


Legend Among Myths (CP story)

by Gamergeek2000



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Blood and Injury, Cannibalism, Cussing, Dark Magic, Developing Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, It's the CP's there's lots of characters, Light Angst, M/M, Overprotective, Protective Jeff, References to Depression, Time Travel, Underage Drinking, Violence, poor jeff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:13:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 104,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22959247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gamergeek2000/pseuds/Gamergeek2000
Summary: Jeff's on another task, brought on by Slender without consent, this time to the future. The council is suspecting the end of the CP's is coming sooner than they could predict, and without their control. Being sent into the future there's no risk of messing up the past right? But things become complicated as Jeff encounters children, children from the Creepypasta's, and one happens to be Mara's daughter. Having no other option he has to find the person responsible for the Creepypasta's disappearance and helping the kids that have their own problems.
Relationships: BEN (BEN Drowned)/Eyeless Jack, Candy Pop (Creepypasta)/Jason Meyer | Jason the Toymaker, Hoody/Masky (Creepypasta), Laughing Jack/Jeffrey Woods | Jeff The Killer, Natalie Ouellette | Clockwork/Tobias Erin "Toby" Rogers | Ticci Toby, Original Character(s)/Original Chatacter(s), Suicide Sadie/Kagekao, original character(s)/Heartful Lou
Comments: 17
Kudos: 22





	1. The Golden Spade

“You called for me Slender?” Mara questioned, Lorien wrapped around her neck to rest.

“Yes, I need your opinion on something.” Slender replied as he looked up from a paper in his hand. “The Council sent a letter saying that they need someone to use the Diamond of future to check something out. Something seems off to them.”

“The diamond? They want someone to go into the future? Why?” Mara asked with a worried expression. “Are we going to be terminated?”

“I don’t think it’s anything like that.” Slender shook his head and handed her the letter. “Also..how did the experiment go?”

Mara’s cheeks flushed red and hid behind the paper. “Um..good..”

“Was it successful?”

“I...plan to tell Lou tonight.” Mara smiled. “Although..it so far is only proven for a girl..Back to the letter..do you want me to talk to them first?”

“No, I already spoke with them yesterday. They say that something big is going to happen and want to see how it will affect the future. But they don’t want you to go.” Slender replied.

“Then..who do they want to send?” 

“Jeff, since he already has done this before.” Slender shrugged. “What are your thoughts?”

“Uh..great killer. But he doesn’t really think ahead before he speaks. Are you sure you want to send him? Besides, you know he won’t want to do it.”

“Well since he’ll be going into the future he can’t affect the past, and by looking into the future perhaps he can find out what has the Council so unsettled.”

“Since you put it that way...I guess it makes sense. But how are you going to ask him to do this?” Mara crossed her arms, knowing how stubborn Jeff is.

“That’s why you’re going to convince him.”

“What? Are you fucking kidding me?!” Mara snapped back, the shout making Lorien jump off and flap his wings rapidly as he gathered his surroundings. “You can’t just expect him to listen to me!”

“You two are close, you are practically friends with everyone.” Slender responded. “I’m sure you can find a way to convince him.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “fine..I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you, and..congratulations.” Slender nodded a little.

She gave a small smile before walking out of the office to find Jeff, watching with glee as she passed several CP’s that were enjoying the night, and Lorien purred before flying off. Seeing LJ with Candypop she stopped in front of them. “Jack? Have you seen Jeff?”

LJ looked at Mara with a chuckle. “Jeff is out right now, said something along the lines of “I have some people’s lives to fuck over,” or something like that. He should be back soon.”

“Oh, well when he is back can you tell him I need to speak with him?”

“Sure! Oh! Also Lou was looking for you.” LJ chuckled and winked at her. “He’s upstairs~”

Mara’s face flushed again as she walked upstairs, using her wings to hide her face. Everyone knew they were together but due to her “testing” both her and Lou were teased restlessly for their activities. She arrived at their shared room and knocked before opening the door and seeing Lou laying on the bed with his mask off and reading a book. He glanced over to her with a smile and sat up. “Hey babe.”

“What’s up love?” Mara asked as she stepped closer and let him wrap his arms around her waist as she stood by the bed and he turned to have her between his legs. 

“Just missed you~” Lou muttered as he pressed his face to her stomach. 

“You sleep with me almost every night Lou.” Mara giggled as she pet his head.

“You were gone for two days working for Zalgo. The hell are you guys working on?” Lou asked, looking up at her.

“Um..something..” Mara giggled, her eyes gazing away.

“Mara, you are a shitty liar, just tell me.” Lou huffed and stood up to hold her closer.

“Oh..honey maybe you should sit back down-”

“Mara..” Lou replied sternly.

“Ok! hmm..I am..expecting?” Mara implied, looking up at him for a reaction.

“Expecting what?” Lou asked, his eyes confused.

“Lou, I’m..” She giggled and moved his hands from her waist to her stomach. “Our experiment is done.”

Realization hit Lou and his brown eyes widened, a huge grin spread across his face and laughed. She giggled as he held her tightly and started kissing her neck. “It worked? You’re..pregnant?”

“Zalgo found out two days ago after I drank the formula from the Council.” Mara replied. “The Council will know soon and Dr.Smiley has already confirmed it with Zalgo.”

“I can’t-holy fuck Mara this is real!” Lou felt like his heart was going to explode, pulling Mara back onto the bed with him as she let out a yelp and laughed.

“I know it’s a lot to process but I am happy it worked.” Mara smiled at him, pecking his lips.

The two quickly fell into a make out session, but a few minutes later a knock interrupted them and Lou groaned as he tried to hold Mara down from getting up. After some struggling Mara managed to push Lou onto the floor before running to the door and opening it, seeing Jeff and quickly fixing up her shirt and hair. “Hey Jeff! What is it?”

Jeff raised a brow as he glanced to Lou who was on the floor covering his head in pain then to Mara. “I was told by LJ I was to see you? Should I come back later?”

“No!” Mara quickly said and smiled at Lou. “I’ll be back later, baby.”

“Fuck you..” Lou grumbled as he sat up, rolling up his sleeves to check for wounds.

Mara giggled and left, taking Jeff’s arm and leading him outside the mansion. The ground was covered in a few inches of snow and the air was cold. Jeff and Mara were not too affected by this as they stepped outside, their breaths making small clouds in the air. She stretched her hawk-like wings and sighed. “So..how are things Jeff?”

“Pretty damn good, killing has been good, and so has LJ and I.” Jeff shrugged. “What about you?”

“Oh just running errands really..but now I’m having a baby.” She smiled at him.

He stopped, not looking at her as he turned towards the mansion. “Excuse me while I kill your boyfriend-”

“Jeff!” Mara laughed as she grabbed his arm, moving a wing in front of him for good measure as she led him into the forest. “I wanted this, don’t worry.”

“It’s not possible for you to be pregnant though right? I thought Dr.Smiley said it wasn’t possible.” Jeff babbled a bit in confusion. 

“Jeff forget about that, I need to talk to you about something important-”

“That wasn’t the important shit? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Jeff teased as he shoved her lightly.

“Ok ok, I get it, you worry.” She giggled before her face went still. “Now seriously, Slender and I have been talking about some..concerns the Council has..”

Jeff’s head lolled back and he groaned to the dark sky. “Oh my fucking god now what? It’s been 8 months. Can they give us a year before finding a problem?”

Mara smacked him in the back of his head to get his attention and huffed. “Just listen..They think something will happen to us and want you to go into the future to find out what changes.”

“Holy fuck no! I’ve been in another dimension, nearly destroyed by a demonic lady and her goons, and to top it off I had to see my pathetic self and others in human form. I had to watch them die!” Jeff objected, she swore his voice nearly cracked.

“You’d be going to the future, nothing would be permanent. Slender told me about your hunt for Woo-Doo..and look nothing is fucked up here. We trust you to see what will happen, quick trip there and back, nothing more.” Mara replied softly.

“Why not you? Or someone else?” Jeff scoffed, looking at her.

“Because you have experience, clearly Slender thinks you can handle this more than anyone else. Besides I’m terrible with big decisions where you can get down to the bare bones of what you need to do.” She explained.

Jeff grumbled and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “And you said it’ll be quick?”

“Should be, you’ll be taking the diamond with you and you just need to find the problem and get the hell out of there.” Mara replied, as she nudged him. “Come on, please? For the family?”

He grunted in reply and she added. “For me?”

A scoff. “For your future niece or nephew?”

He finally glared at her and grumbled. “Fine, I’m in.”

“Thanks Jeff~! I’ll tell Slender.” Mara said and then added. “How about we go kill for a bit before dinner?”

“Sounds good, sounds like the only action I’ll get for days, god know who what the fuck I’ll see in the future. I may need to bathe in bleach afterwards.”

“I’ll have LJ get the tub ready when you come back from the future.” She giggled. “But you have to tell me what it’s like!”

“Deal.” Jeff shrugged and took out his knife. “Let’s go.”

As the two left to kill, Slender was in a meeting with the Council, looking up to everyone while holding the diamond in his hand. “Are you sure there is a threat?”

“There has been a feeling passing through a lot of the Council members, along with several legendaries.” One member said as they stood up.

“Care to name any?” Slender questioned.

“GREA, Locklear, and even Zalgo.” Another person spoke. “What we say must not leave this room..”

“But I have to tell Jeff to look for something.” Slender said. “Are we talking about another prisoner of Zalgo’s? Or perhaps a human invasion?”

“No, betrayal from a CP.” A female’s voice called. “It’s clear someone has been manipulating CP’s! Gems and artifacts from Zalgo have gone missing and everything is on lock down, even GREA mentions odd things happening in the cities that he’s come to reap.”

“Really..I will keep Jeff informed it’s a CP then.” Slender nodded. “Any other concerns.”

“Not concerned..but how is Mara?” Locklear asked as he removed his mask to show his grin.

“She is well, excited really. I am surprised you allowed her to test this.” Slender commented.

“We found she made a good point..” Locklear replied. “We don’t know what is to come and it’s best we are prepared for the next generation, especially with so many souls being so unworthy to be CP’s. The souls of this human generation are..not as strong as they used to be.”

“Understood, I will tell Jeff to watch his back.” Slender replied before teleporting back to the mansion.

The mansion was buzzed with energy as shouts and laughter rang out through the halls, getting curious Slender stood and left his room. Walking out to see everyone downstairs cheering and having the time of their lives while Mara was in the center. He stepped closer to the crowd and stood by his brother Splendor. “Splendor? What is going on?”

“Oh! Brother you just missed it! Lou and Mara just told us about the baby!” Splendor smiled, clapping his hands together. “I can’t believe it!”

“Yes it is definitely a development..Where is Jeff?” Slender asked, gazing over the crowd.

“I’m sure he’s somewhere near Mara, she named him the uncle.” Splendor replied.

Slender nodded and carefully walked through the crowd which turned out to be a challenge, but soon reached Mara and tapped her shoulder. “Mara?”

“Oh! Hey Slender!” She smiled at him. “What’s going on?”

“We need to talk, can you and Jeff come to my office?” Slender asked.

“You might need to teleport us!” She giggled as she quickly found Jeff and grabbed his arm before Slender reached a tendril to her for her to take.

After they were linked Slender teleported them to the office, Mara letting out some giggles and Jeff in a daze from what just happened. “The fuck-”

“There’s a traitor among the CP’s.” Slender said, making both of them look at him in shock. “That’s the reason Jeff is going into the future.”

“What? You mean I’m going after another crazy bitch?!” Jeff shouted. “Some headless person maybe? A demon? Tell me you pale ass beanpole!”

“Jeff! Watch your language!” Mara snapped. “Would this change anything?”

“Yeah! Because I didn’t think I was hunting another fucking nut case!” Jeff yelled at her.

“Jeff! Enough!” Slender growled. “This will be easy. You’ll go there, find the traitor and try to apprehend them, if not then kill them. Just make sure to keep the diamond on you.”

“How am I supposed to use it?” Jeff grumbled, crossing his arms.

“We’ll be making a box for it that you can just have in your pocket.” Slender replied. “And I will teach you what to say when you have to go and return.”

“Great just flipping wonderful..” Jeff scoffed, turning away.

“Jeff, this shouldn’t be a problem, you handled Woo-Doo I think you can take care of this traitor.” Mara encouraged, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“But I am not the one that took care of her..” Jeff said as he looked at Mara. “The only way I was even able to capture her was because of the human version of the CP’s I met..Laughing jack held her back with Ben while I had to figure out how to use the Enad stone. If there’s no one to help in the future I’m in deep shit.”

“I don’t think we’ll be extinct Jeff.” Mara sighed. “Surely we still make it into the future.”

“How far am I going anyways?” Jeff asked, looking at Slender.

“Quite a way, about 19 years, but Mara is right. There will be someone to help you.” Slender explained. “The Council said that 19 to 20 years should be far enough ahead to find the traitor and see what they have in store.”

“Oh great..” Jeff rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna go drink.” 

Without another word he left, slamming the door and leaving Mara and Slender in the office. She looked at the taller CP, her wings arched up in challenge as her feathers fluffed out with frustration and anger. “Real nice Slender. I was trying to soften the blow with the big news.”

“Mara don’t you start now, he’s already agreed to this.” Slender huffed, turning to her and leaning over her.

A silent challenge of dominance rose between the two as Slender continued to stand over her, and she opened her wings to look bigger. “You forget that he’s only one CP Slender, what if something does happen and he needs help?”

“Then he will have to figure it out.” Slender sighed and moved to his desk. “No more arguing, and you need to relax for the child’s sake.”

Mara blinked and her wings tucked in, subconsciously putting a hand over her stomach. She frowned with worry and released a sigh. “I know Jeff is a top killer, but even he has limits about what he can do.”

“He will be alright Mara.” Slender replied and then asked. “Why are you so worried?”

“What..if he doesn’t come back?” Mara muttered. “If we lose him we may lose trust from other CP’s..”

“Everything will be alright. You have to trust that he can do this.” Slender spoke out. 

“I suppose..see you tomorrow.” Mara said before leaving the room, gently closing the door and squealed when two arms wrapped around her. Lorien flew over quickly as he heard her squeal, but relaxed seeing it was Toby and playfully pulled at the CP’s goggles.

“Hey Mara! You too Lorien~” Toby laughed and let go, brushing off his chin. “You really need to get the loose feathers out of your wings! One nearly got into my mouth!”

She couldn’t help but giggle, cupping Lorien in her hands and petting him with her index finger. “Toby you were the one that popped up out of nowhere.”

“Yeah well, I needed your advice!” Toby clapped his hands together in prayer form. “It’s about Clocky.”

“Oh boy what did you do Toby?” Mara sighed. “Did you prank her?”

“No, but she thinks I’m kidding around when I said I wanted to be official.” Toby shrugged. “I think she’s still scared to be in a relationship.”

“Toby, people will have their time to accept another person’s feelings. You just need to be patient.” 

“I have been! We used to date, but since we were forced to separate we had to start back at square one!” Toby whined. 

“Ok, and you just want to make it official again right?” Mara asked, getting a nod as an answer. “Alright so she’s probably just adjusting. Natalie is..she has trust issues and finally giving you herself may be a lot more mental and emotional strain.”

“Uhh...so I should wait? Or give her space?” Toby asked, tilting his head.

“I’m saying be serious, go up to her and tell her that you are there to listen and comfort her.” Mara replied, patting his head. “If you tell her that you’re there for her I’m sure she’ll feel better about this.”

“If you say so.” Toby shrugged before running off. “Thanks Mara!”

Smiling to herself he walked back through the crowds of CP’s and started talking with them again. A lot were congratulating her while others would ask questions, and a few wouldn’t say anything probably from shock. At one moment, Lorien flew down to her stomach and nuzzled his head against her, she giggled and said calmly. “Yes I haven’t forgotten about you. You’ll be my baby’s guardian.”

The night carried on like that, drinking, talking, the TV on in the background. Eventually, Jeff had enough of the noise and went upstairs, he was a bit tipsy but he got to his and LJ’s room before collapsing on their bed. The two decided to share a room and see how it went before making a permanent change to either of their personal bedrooms, but they agreed the test would be better in Jeff’s room because LJ’s room was covered in candy.

He groaned softly into the pillows as he nuzzled the cool sheets, slowly slipping his shoes and hoodie off as he curled under the covers. No less than 5 minutes later the door opened and LJ poked his head in, smiling at his lover. “Hey Jeffy, going to bed?”

“Mm-hm.” Jeff mumbled and felt the bed dip as LJ crawled onto the bed. He allowed the taller one to spoon him as he leaned back onto him.

“What’s on your mind?” LJ asked, pecking his head.

“Slender wants me to go to the future to find a traitor..” Jeff huffed. “Remember when I was gone and found your human selves? It’s like that but this time it’s our universe and what’s going to happen.”

“You’re worried about what you’ll see.” LJ concluded, resting his head on Jeff’s. 

“Yeah..and what if we aren’t there? Who the hell do I see for help?” Jeff muttered to himself.

“You’ll figure it out.” LJ smiled. “You did it before you can handle the future with no problem.”

“Why are you so calm about it?” Jeff asked, glancing up at his boyfriend.

“Because I know you can handle any challenge~” LJ smirked and pecked his head. “You’ll be back before you know it.”

“I hope you’re right.” Jeff laid his head back down as LJ cuddled into his back. 

The two stayed in a content silence as they slowly fell asleep, letting the noise from downstairs drown away. As the night went on the mansion grew quieter until the sun rose and the whole house was asleep. At one point, Slender awoke to an odd presence, something that made the mansion feel disturbed. He got out of his room and walked around to seek what was causing him discomfort, the sun shone through the windows and the house was chilly. Looking outside Slender checked the snow for tracks, but nothing unusual was out there, just a few animal prints. After looking around downstairs he teleported upstairs to the second floor to look around, everything was quiet but something still felt off to him.

“Slendy?”

The soft voice caught him off by surprise and he looked down at Sally, who was rubbing her left eye while her right arm had her teddy in her hold. With tired green eyes, she looked up at him and yawned. Slender kneeled down and pet her head. “Sally what are you doing up?”

“I wanted some water..” She mumbled out, her eyes drooping a bit.

Slender let out a small chuckle and picked her up, her head dropping onto his shoulder and weakly wrapping her arms around his neck with her teddy draped over his back. He walked downstairs with her and started walking to the kitchen, but that odd feeling hit him again. Then he heard a thump, and Sally’s head popped up from his shoulder. “Slendy what was that?”

“I’m not sure..” Slender said, setting Sally on the couch as he passed. “Stay here..”

She nodded and ducked behind the couch as he walked to his office, seeing the door open. Slender quickly looked in to see a figure around 7 feet tall that looked like they were wearing black armor, but there was an odd orange aura pouring out from the sides of the helmet. Wasting no time he slammed his tendril into the helmet, knocking it off and seeing a skull glowing orange and it screamed at Slender’s attack, turning around. Another hit with the tendril and the skull was on the ground but the body moved forward, holding up a medieval mace as it swung at Slender. The taller CP teleported behind and wrapped a tendril around the mace, yanking it from the knight and smashing the skull with it, and the orange hue vanished as the armor turned to dust. 

He was confused, but noticed something sparkle from the shattered skull and picked up a small piece of what looked like a gem. Slender held it carefully and noticed his desk had been thrown over, explaining the thump he heard, and saw the diamond on the floor. Taking the diamond he walked out and closed the door, seeing Sally looking nervous.

“What was it?” Sally asked, holding her bear close.

“It’s ok now Sally, it was just a monster.” Slender replied and quickly guided the girl to the kitchen.

After getting her water and getting her back to her bed, Slender wasted no time going to the basement and waking Dr.Smiley. The crazed doctor was grumpy and still half asleep, but Slender handed him the orange shard and asked him to examine it. The doctor’s head bobbed a bit but eventually he turned and held up the shard. “It’s a piece of sphalerite..a rare gem for most..”

“What was it doing in a medieval skeleton?” Slender asked, wanting a second opinion.

“I don’t know..maybe it is infused with magic?” He mumbled, leaning on his arm.

“Possibly..” Slender said then tucked it away. “Do you have a way for Jeff to hold the diamond?”

“Huh? Oh yes..” Dr.Smiley yawned as he got up and walked to his bed, grabbing something that was placed to the side. “I made this..the diamond if you will.”

Slender handed it to him and Dr.Smiley attached the diamond into the hilt of a knife that looked similar to Jeff’s knives. “This way it’ll always be with Jeff and someone would have to remove the diamond from the hilt.”

“Clever, wonderfully done.” Slender complimented as he took the knife and looked at it’s seamless attachment. “Sorry for waking you, you can go to bed.”

Dr.Smiley nodded before flopping back onto his bed and quickly falling asleep. Slender decided to look at the cameras before he went back to bed, just to make sure there weren't any other uninvited guests on the premises. The strange thing was the knight just suddenly appeared, there was a flash of yellow and the knight was just there before stalking over to the mansion. Slender watched the clip on the camera over and over but there were no other clues as to who sent the knight and what the gem did. After a few minutes he stopped what he was doing and went back to his room, fixing the desk before going back to bed.

The next evening Slender had given Jeff the knife and the killer examined it with an annoyed glare. “What do you think I am? A pimp?”

“Jeff not now, if we’re lucky you won’t have to use your knife. The diamond is just secure on the hilt and it’s an easy way not to lose it.” Slender sighed.

Lorien was letting out chirps of laughter while Mara was holding back a grin. “Alright Jeff, the way you'll get back home is simple, we’ll read the line to get you there but then the way back home is by reciting this. As time shifts, be my guide, make my travel swift, back to my pride.”

“My pride?” Jeff asked, raising a brow.

“I guess pride means home in some ancient time.” Mara shrugged, not really knowing herself. “Think you got it?”

“Totally, that’s easy.” Jeff replied and sighed. “Wish me luck.”

Mara nodded and Lorien licked his cheek before Slender spoke the words, making the diamond sparkle as Jeff was engulfed with light. The entire journey was a blur, but seeing his surroundings as the light faded...what the fuck happened to the forest?


	2. Angel's Rest

The forest was charred, gone, just left over shrubs and fallen trees. It was still night, but the air felt warmer than the winter weather he just left. The ground was frosted but there was no snow. Jeff stuffed the knife into his pocket and began to walk, trying to find the mansion that would be in the woods. Another odd thing was there were no cameras in the trees, no Slender notes, and when he reached the location of where his home should be, nothing but old wood and metal was left behind. The mansion was burned down.

“The fuck happened here?” Jeff muttered as he knelt down, tracing his hand over the charred wood. “I need to find the city..”

He didn’t waste time and began running to where the city would be based on his time, and was relieved to see it still together. But of course there seemed to be a few changes, the city was larger, more buildings and less of the forest. Many lights glowed from the city which made the black sky actually lighter, and so many of the buildings and houses were updated. He had to figure out what year it was, Slender didn’t tell him how far ahead he went.

Pulling the hood over his head he walked to the city, shocked to see so many people dressed in either casual clothes or punk rave clothing. It was black and white, no mix, two different people in the whole city. It was actually terrifying. Seeing no other option he found a convenience store and looked at the digital clock on the wall that read 9:23pm. He took a second to find a magazine before flipping it open and nearly having a heart attack at the date.

“It’s fucking 2039?!” Jeff shouted as he gripped the magazine, threatening to tear it in half.

“Sir are you ok?” A brunette woman with chocolate eyes asked softly, making him freeze up and close the magazine.

“Fine thank you..” He grumbled and set the magazine back. “Hey, I’m uh..new in this city, do you know anything about the Creepypasta forest?”

She seemed confused for a second and then snapped her fingers. “Oh yeah! The old legend of slender man and those killers! Well those rumors and stories died a long time ago.”

“How long exactly?”

She shrugged. “Maybe a few years ago? 2030? Maybe 2032? Why do you ask?”

“Just curious..” Jeff huffed, but his blood turned to ice when she grinned at him.

“You seem pretty cool, want to go clubbing?” She purred out, stepping closer and only then did Jeff take in her outfit. Leather tank top and shorts with fishnets and black boots, this girl just might be trouble.

“No thanks!” Jeff shouted before bolting out of the store. “The fuck happened here? There has to be a CP somewhere..”

He began searching around the city, sticking to alleyways because of all the random clubbers. As he looked around he did notice that some people dressed normally, but the styles were really weird to him. The lights of the city practically illuminated his pale skin too, making him keep his hands in his pockets and ducking his head more to hide under the hood. He had to think, where would CP’s go if there was an emergency? Or if they had to build another base? And he couldn’t just go asking people around about the Creepypasta’s otherwise he might sound stupid or someone may get suspisious.

Climbing up one of the building’s fire escape ladders he got to the roof and looked around. If the CP’s were not in the forest they would be somewhere else abandoned, where other humans wouldn’t dare to go. But..the forest has receded a lot by the look of things..Jeff sat on the roof, looking around for any possible area that the CP’s could be hiding. He could always go back to the woods and try to find Zalgo’s portal, maybe they moved to the underrealm? Taking that as the best way to go he quickly descended down the ladder and began running back to the forest, having to dodge some people along the way.

The forest felt so small now, there must have been a fire years ago and the contractors took advantage of that to make more buildings. It seemed so baren now, not even animals inhabited it, and the fog that would normally cover the land was gone. He wandered, not really sure where to look, just trying to find any sign of the CP’s existence. He didn’t think about it until now, but if there were no CP’s he would have to find a place to stay and would need to steal food. 

“Son of a bitch..” Jeff grumbled out but continued walking. “Mara should’ve gone instead..she’s better with this kind of shit.”

It was probably another 20 minutes when Jeff reached the peak of frustration and patience and let out an aggravated growl. The forest was still large, but he tried to find the cabin where Papa Grande lived and even that was gone. “Fucking hell, I should try to find Zalgo’s realm. Maybe..”

He paused and looked around before calling out into the cold air. “Zalgo, are you there? Zalgo I need your fucking help.”

It was like a beetlejuice thing in his mind, maybe Zalgo would appear if he kept calling out to him. He waited before kicking a rock on the ground and walked around some more, reaching a lake and sitting by the waters edge. “Fuck, now what?...maybe I should head back and tell them that I’m in the wrong time frame?”

Jeff took out the knife with the diamond on the hilt, looking at the diamond in thought. Part of him was very tempted to go home but something didn’t feel right about the forest and location he was in. He sighed and stuffed it back in his pocket before getting up and started throwing rocks into the water to release some stress. If he got angry now then he would be in more trouble than before. Throwing another rock he heard a thunk instead of a splash and looked to the water seeing a black hump in the middle of the water, which sank right after Jeff caught a glimpse. 

Jeff felt his heart sink but his mind went hyper active as his heart started pumping faster and he took out his knife to where the blade was pointed away from himself. He stepped back from the water but a large figure emerged, about 10 feet tall but it’s wings larger than its body, making water fly everywhere and Jeff jumped back seeing glowing purple eyes. Once he took in the dark figure he was almost in shock. “Lorien?”

Lorien was in his large form, and screeched at Jeff, lunging at him for a bite with his long purple teeth. Jeff jumped back, sliding the knife back into his pocket as he raised his hands. “Wait Lorien it’s me!”

The demon only screamed again as it’s body crawled out from the water, opening it’s large wings and flapping some of the water off before trying to bite Jeff again. Jeff jumped back but quickly grabbed onto Lorien’s neck as the creature bent down again, hauling himself up onto it’s back. “Lorien! It’s Jeff, calm the hell down!”

Lorien kept struggling and letting out growls before finally taking flight, nearly making Jeff slide off before he got a grip on the demon. The cold air slapped Jeff’s face as he felt Lorien’s shoulders move with each flap up into the night sky, his eyes began to water. “Lorien! Down boy!”

Another loud screech and suddenly Lorien dive-bombed towards the ground, opening his wings last minute and making Jeff’s head smack into Lorien’s back and fall off. He didn’t fall far, maybe 5 feet, but it was still enough to make his world spin. Jeff barely got his barings before Lorien was over him and growling at him, but then he stopped, his eyes widening in almost an innocent way as he nuzzled Jeff’s chest. “Oh now you recognize me you shit?”

Lorien purred and backed away, seemingly shaking with excitement as he pounced around and let out little churrs of delight. “Jeff! Jeff!”

“Yes it’s me boy!” Jeff laughed as he sat up. “God what’s with you? Wait, where’s the mansion? Where is everyone?”

Lorien stopped bouncing and let out a pitiful whine, Jeff getting up and petting his head. “Hey, calm down, can’t you tell me?”

“Maybe you should speak to me.”

Jeff spun around and his knife out in defense at the voice, but stood silently as he took in the person in front of him. A young girl, with jade black hair and violet eyes, large angel wings on her back. She looked like a young adult, only standing at 5 foot 4, wearing a long sleeved grey shirt with a black vest over it, jeans, and black combat boots. Around her neck was a long necklace that rested at her chest with a hummingbird skull at the end made of metal. She had almost a heavenly and welcoming aura around her, and her body was thin and curved in the right places. In short, she looked like an angel.

“Who the hell are you?” Jeff asked, Lorien moving to stand by her side.

“I have a few names. The angel, goddess of mercy, the wandering angel, but my name is Laila.” She replied with a smile.

Jeff looked over her again and pointed out. “You look familiar..”

“I would hope I do, uncle Jeff.” Laila replied, her eyes misting over. 

Slowly he put the knife away and tilted his head. “Uncle..? Are..you Mara’s kid?”

She nodded and quickly wiped her eyes away. “Mara was my mother and Lou was my dad..”

“Was? Wait a second, where is everyone? What the fuck happened?” Jeff questioned, motioning to the forest.

Laila looked around before coming closer and muttering. “It’s not safe to talk here, come with me..”

She began to walk back to the lake, and looked back at Jeff and Lorien before the waters parted to reveal a staircase. Jeff was both surprised and a little unnerved by this, but followed and Lorien followed, covering the entrance with his body as the waters covered over him. The steps were partially wet as they walked down into the dark, but soon there was a light at the end peeking out through the cracks of a door. Laila opened it, revealing a large room with the cave walls glittering with small metal deposits. The light in the room was from dozens of candles that were placed on cut outs in the walls and the middle had many a large circular wooden table with chairs around it, but near the corners of the room were small couches and a large bed.

“It’s not much but it’s home.” Laila replied, taking a seat on a red chaise couch.

Jeff had to move his head from nearly hitting a lantern that hung from the ceiling and complimented. “Nah, this is pretty cool, but it must be hard to have electricity here.”

“Yeah, there’s no electricity, or a fridge, we have to hunt or steal our food.” Laila smiled as she laid back on the couch.

“The hell do you do for fun?” Jeff asked, looking at her.

“Oh well..I read, sometimes sing, but nothing else really. I’m too busy keeping the others safe.” Laila shook her head.

“The others? Ok back up, rewind, start from page one.” Jeff sighed as he grabbed one of the chairs at the table and pulled it over, sitting down and straddling it.

“Ok um..well when I was ten years old something happened to the CP’s..I’m not sure what but my mother told me to take the others and to get away..the mansion was on fire and everyone just was gone..” Laila said, sorrow clear in her eyes and her voice hitched. “I took care of the others but over the years we just grew apart.”

Jeff kind of understood, whoever the traitor is must have attacked the CP’s and made them vanish. “Ok, so who are the others then? Did some CP’s escape?”

“Only us kids.”

“Kids!?” Jeff shouted, leaning forward, making the chair tilt. “Who got pregnant!?”

Laila looked at him in shock and asked carefully. “Jeff? Maybe you can tell me how you’re here?”

Jeff leaned back and huffed. “I have a diamond that lets me travel to the future I guess. Slender said there was a problem in the future and what’s to know what’s the cause so we can prevent it. I was in 2020.”

“Oh dear god..” Laila gasped, her wings twitching a little. “Oh fuck..”

He raised a brow. “Anyways, I’m trying to find the traitorous bastard.”

Her eyes reflect confusion. “It was a CP? Oh great Council..”

“Is the Council still here?” Jeff questioned.

“No..they vanished along with all the other CP’s, both over and under realm.” Laila replied. “There are only 11 CP’s left as far as I know..Slender gave me a spell book to learn how to protect the others.”

“That explains the cave..” Jeff mumbled. “Only 11? How do you know that? And who are they?”

Laila hesitated and let out a nervous giggle. “Well there’s a special spell in Slender’s book that allows me to feel the presence of other CP’s or supernatural identities for a short time. It’s really straining on mental powers..as for who they are..I can’t tell you.”

“Why not? I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.” Jeff scoffed lightly.

“Well um..a few CP’s liked the idea of my birth and well, some others got into it..” She muttered out, but seeing Jeff's still confused face she sighed. “And..you were one of them that slowly liked the idea of having kids..”

His eyes grew wide with shock. “Me? With who?!”

“Um..uncle Laughing Jack, who else?” Laila stated and rolled her shoulders back to release tension. “Just be careful not to tell anyone from the past about this, otherwise it could alter a lot of things.”

Jeff nodded and played with his hoodie a bit, trying to not blush at the implication of him and LJ having kids. “Fine. So where are they all?”

Laila opened her mouth to speak but the door opened and they looked over to see two others laughing. One was a smaller kid, maybe around 4 foot 3, who gave Jeff a funny feeling of feigned innocence. He had bright green eyes and light tawny brown hair, and dragging a bat behind him. The kid was wearing a tiger print shirt with blue jeans, orange shoes, and a big brown jacket around himself. “Laila we’re hom-”

He froze and the boy next to him froze up as well, a teen around 5 foot 6, with ash blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes. He wore a dark navy blue shirt with black pants and tennis shoes. Laila stood and quickly walked over. “Guys I know this is a shock-”

“Jeffy!” The small kid cried, dropping the bat and running over, tugging at Jeff’s pants. “Jeffy you’re alive!”

Jeff looked at him confused, getting off the chair to sit on it the right way as the kid crawled onto his lap and hugged him. “Hey kid?”

“Laila what is going on?” The other boy spoke, his blue eyes trained on her with a mix of anger.

“Talon it’s fine, this Jeff is from the past, he’s here to help.” She explained quickly but she seemed upset, perhaps worried.

“No it’s not fine, he could be a specter!” Talon hissed back, walking over to Jeff and taking the kid off him. “Nash, stay away from him.”

“But it’s uncle Jeffy!” Nash whined, reaching for Jeff again.

Jeff was beyond shocked and confused, but he cleared his throat. “Look Slender sent me, I’m looking for the CP that caused this hell.”

Talon only continued to glare at him before Laila came back and whispered something to him and he relented. Taking the youngest and firmly holding Nash’s hand as he walked to a small tunnel in the cave. Laila gave Jeff a sheepish smile and explained. “Talon is Lulu’s son, he’s 15...and the younger one is 10, his name is Nash. To answer your question before, I know all but one CP. The eleventh one I can’t find.”

Jeff sighed. “This is a lot to take in..”

Laila nodded and took out a silver windup pocket watch. “It’s pretty early to sleep but do you want to rest for a bit?”

He debated it for a second but then shook his head. “No, I think it’s better I stay up. I need to get to work on finding this son of a bitch that caused this mess.”

Laila smiled, a smile that reflected her mother with everlasting kindness, and sat back on the couch. “Alright, I’m ready for questions.”

Jeff thought and then asked. “Any idea if your family knew who the traitor was?”

“No, you think if they knew this would have happened?” Laila commented. “If something was wrong Slender wouldn’t wait to tell us.” 

Oh if only she knew..But the glint of the metal around her neck made him point to it and ask. “And the hummingbird necklace?”

She played with the skull between her fingers and smiled fondly at it. “Mom gave it to me before I left..I was about 14 years old when we had to run away, I’m 19 now.”

“You don’t remember anything at all?” Jeff tilted his head. “A face? Voice? Creature?”

“No, sorry, Lorien is my guardian so he flew with us on his back and we never went back until a year later to see if our family came back..” Laila answered. “In the year we were gone we hid in an old factory and I was trying to keep the others alive..”

“Ah, got it..” Jeff said then tapped his fingers on the sides of the chair. “What can you tell me about the two I just saw?”

“well...Talon is very protective, being the only half demon from the under realm has created a lot of pressure on him. He is nice but he has to get used to you first. Um..Nash is..well just like his father.” She giggled. “Loves starting fires and learning about chemicals but he is a bit naive..”

“Heh, who would’ve guessed that the CP’s wanted kids.” Jeff smirked a bit, almost wishing to tease the other CP’s at home.

“The world is full of surprises.” Laila replied. “Now, I don’t think it’s worth talking about the other CPs..”

“Why is that?” Jeff looked at her curiously as she got up and fiddled with her necklace.

“Because..they’re not..we lost touch two years ago after Malik left.” Laila said as she glanced at him. “Malik was more of a leader then I was..”

“Who’s Malik? Who’s kid?” 

“Y..yours.” Laila mumbled. “He’s your son.”

“Oh dear god why did I make a name like that?” Jeff groaned, hiding in his hands. 

“Actually apparently you and LJ made a coin toss and LJ won both times to name your kids. You guys had twins.” Laila smiled but then turned sad again. “Malik was determined to find out what happened to our family and left..then slowly others started to leave and I was only left with two. But it’s not only because of Malik, there were other tensions too.”

“So my kid went wandering because he wanted to find us? Dumbass..” 

Laila’s hands clenched into fists, clearly offended by Jeff’s comment. “He was just like you as far as skill goes, and he’s just as smart.”

Jeff waved his hand. “But why separate? If there’s anything I got at home it was that CP’s work together.”

“That has changed..” Laila said quietly. “Two of them live on their own, Malik is wandering the world, and three live together on the far side of the city in another forest.”

“Hm..ok fine..have you seen any strange activity? Slender commented on a knight trying to break into the mansion.” Jeff asked.

“A knight?” Laila raised a brow. “No not anything like that..but if anyone would know it would be Viper, the proxy.”

“Proxy? Ok so how do we find him?” Jeff asked,feeling annoyed by the run around. “He sounds like the one I should talk to.”

“I don’t know Jeff, he’s been gone a while I have no idea where he is.” Laila shrugged.

“Can you find something in your book to track him? Or use Lorien?”

“Lorien’s not the best tracker..But I could look in the book and see if it has something.” Laila replied. “You’ll have to give me a couple hours.”

“That’s fine, I’ll go talk to the kids.” Jeff shrugged and walked to the tunnel the other two went.

The other tunnel leads into a small playroom, toys scattered around and a small kids bed in the room. Talon was playing go fish with Nash and Jeff watched silently for a moment, smiling at Nash’s small comments and cheers of success before he noticed Jeff and called out. “Hi Jeffy!”

“Why are you here?” Talon huffed, not even looking up at Jeff as he flicked a card to Nash.

“well..I wanted to get to know you guys.” Jeff replied, sitting next to Nash, the boy looking up in wonder. “Since I’m kinda stuck here until this is taken care of.”

“You’re really from the past?” Nash asked with a wide grin.

“Yep I am.” Jeff smiled, taking out his knife and showing the diamond. “This diamond brought me here.”

“Whoa! It’s so shiny!” Nash commented, setting his cards down.

Talon’s eyes widened a fraction and looked to Jeff. “how-those mystical items were missing when we came back to check the under realm.”

“Like I said, I’m from the past.” Jeff said, handing the knife to Nash for him to examine.

Talon glanced away a couple times, having trouble meeting Jeff’s eyes. “You were telling the truth then..”

“Yeah I was, do you know how to find Malik?” Jeff asked, watching Nash to make sure he didn’t hurt himself.

“Unfortunately no, he didn’t take a phone or tell us where he was going. The person that’s closest to him would be his twin sister.” Talon grumbled.

“Twin? Fuck LJ and I had twins-”

“Jeff, Language!” Talon hissed, looking at Nash. “And Nash, knife away from your toys.”

Nash pouted and dropped the knife, throwing a stuffed toy to the other side of the room. “You’re no fun.”

“Anyways..” Talon sighed and looked at Jeff. “Yes you two had twins. Cherry is very different from her brother though, she’s more like LJ. Very loud and acrobatic, she can manipulate her targets too.”

“I see..and didn’t Malik tell his sister?” Jeff questioned, picking his knife back up.

“Malik leaving was abrupt, he left a note and that was it. Didn’t even say goodbye.” Talon scowled. “He broke Cherry’s and Laila’s heart.”

Jeff raised a brow and said carefully. “Are Laila and him...together?”

“Hell no they’re not!” Talon snapped at him before relaxing. “She just feels responsible for everyone.”

“Ah, and you’ve been her friend for a while?” Jeff pointed out, trying to set his story straight.

“She’s known me since I was born. She would always come to the under realm to play with me as a kid and taught me how to fight with my hands.” Talon explained, not even daring to look Jeff in the eye.

“She taught me how to fight with a bat!” Nash called out, smiling at the two as they looked to him. “And she taught me math!”

Jeff chuckled and ruffled Nash’s hair. “That’s cool, so how can we contact Cherry?”

“Um, we can send a letter or we can just use Lorien to fly over. She lives on a carnival ground.” 

“An active one?” Jeff raised a brow, sounds like something LJ would do, maybe this girl and him were more similar than he thought.

“Yep, have you ever seen Hell Fest? Dude runs around every year to this one carnival and kills people?” Talon asked, looking at Jeff. The raise in his tone clarified his interest in movies to Jeff.

“Not sure to be honest but sounds cool.”

“Well it’s like that.” Talon said and Nash got up and walked over to Talon, hugging his arm. “What is it Nash?”

“I’m hungry.” Nash whined,looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

“Alright, let’s go see Laila and then go out to the city.” Talon said, getting up with Nash.

“Jeffy, do you want to go with us?” Nash asked, moving closer and tugging at Jeff’s sleeve.

“Sure, I need to stretch my legs some more anyways.” Jeff replied and followed the two to the main room.

When walking back Jeff took another look and counted out the chairs around the table, which turned out to be 12, and took note of the beds and couches. The largest bed could hold at least three people while the couches and smaller bed could only fit one or two people. Laila was laying on her couch, looking through her book, but hearing the others she looked up. “You boys heading somewhere?”

“Nash is hungry, we’re going to go steal lunch and dinner.” Talon replied. “Do you want anything?”

“Nothing in particular.” Laila smiled. “You know what I like. You guys be safe!”

“We will!” Nash called out before grabbing his bat and rushing up the steps, the sound of water splashing indicated he was already at the exit. Talon promptly followed and Jeff followed behind him, glancing back at Laila who was already back to reading. 

“We’ll be back boy.” Jeff softly said to Lorien, getting a low purr from the demon before he sunk back into the water.

Jeff followed the two and asked. “So how come you guys don’t have phones?”

“We just steal phones, but technology is easier to track now so we can only have it for a few hours before trashing it.” Talon replied.

“Laila said that a lot of tech has advanced but there’s now a lot more drugs, so she always tells us never to go alone.” Nash added, lifting his bat. 

“So the world’s gotten shitty? That’s no surprise.” Jeff shrugged. “What’s with the fashion now?”

“The biggest rage is neon lights and dance clubs, they changed to let people of 16 years old in but still need to be 21 to drink. But of course there are fake ID’s that are getting better.” Talon explained. “Have you ever seen Repo Man? Opera movie?”

“Not a big fan of opera.” Jeff shook his head, pulling his hood up.

“You should watch it, it kind of explains what’s going on here. Illegal selling of drugs, organ harvesting, industrialization screwing up the planet.” Talon shrugged but gave a small smile. “We might be able to steal a laptop for a couple hours and watch the movie.”

“Can we!?” Nash tugged at Talon’s sleeve. “Please can we watch it?! Please!”

“Something else that’s been bugging me, are all people sluts now? A woman tried flirting with me earlier.” Jeff asked.

“What’s a slut?” Nash tilted his head, looking at Jeff.

“Nash don’t say that word..it’s just a woman that’s not really bright and makes horrible choices.” Talon explained lightly but then looked to Jeff. “a bunch of people will basically get it on with anyone, especially a city like this that’s filled with drugs.”

“Wow what the fuck happened to this place?” Jeff sighed a bit, ignoring Talon’s low hiss of “language”.

“Laila says it’s because of overpopulation.” Nash commented. “She says that the more people there are the more idiots are born, and the more that are born they make bad decisions like picking out a pres..pres-Talon what’s it called?”

“The president?” Talon questioned. “Nash it’s not just about the poor leadership it’s also about people that only care about themselves and money, they don’t care what’s happening to the middle class.”

“But why?” Nash tugged at his sleeve. 

“Because humans are dumb and their intelligence is only decreasing.” Talon replied and Jeff laughed behind them.

“Wow, you know a lot of CP’s were human before they became CP’s right?”

“You were?” Nash asked, looking back curiously. “You were born with that scar?”

“No, didn’t we ever tell you kids how we came to be?” Jeff asked, making both of the kids stop.

Nash’s gaze went to the grass and Talon grumbled out. “When we ran Nash was only 5 and I was 10. We were never told your stories..”

Jeff noticed the atmosphere shifted to a sorrowful one and he walked closer. “How about this? I can tell you stories about the CP’s when we get back.”

“Really?!” Nash suddenly lit up again.

“Yeah whatever you want.” Jeff nodded, Nash cheered and ran ahead towards the city while Talon glanced at the older CP.

“You think you’ll find the person that caused all this?” 

“Hopefully kid, but I need your help.” Jeff sighed. “Why are you guys all fucking torn apart?”

Talon looked away and shrugged. “Things just didn’t work out as planned I guess. It was already a nightmare trying to make a new home, and keep everyone safe, and the others took it for granted.”

“You sure?” Jeff asked. “Sounds like you’re implying what you think.”

He didn’t miss the flinch from the younger CP as the blue eyes glared back at him. “I don’t know what caused our families to go missing, but I know that it wasn’t an accident. But the others..just ran off, not willing to face the truth.”

“You guys are kids, it takes time to learn from your mistakes.” Jeff replied quietly. “All CP’s have fears and doubts, you’re no different.”

Talon flipped out a pocket knife, and although he was trying to be threatening, it wasn’t as intimidating since he was half the height of Jeff. “Don’t act like you know me. I’m loyal, a good warrior, and a great care taker.”

“Egotistical much?” Jeff scoffed, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pocket. “Laila tell you that?”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance and put his knife away, turning his head away from Jeff. “Laila never lies. She has my trust and respect.”

“Her mother does the same thing, but she knows how to bend and stretch the truth.” Jeff commented, only getting a growl in return and a flash of cold blue eyes. There was no reason to lie to this kid, he just was being stubborn on his view of things.

“Guys come on!” Nash yelled out to them “The stores won’t be open forever! Lift your legs up!”


	3. Amber Ashes

Getting to the city Nash and Talon were looking around for a place to rob when Jeff noticed a hotel that was changed into a nightclub. There was a huge line and many bouncers, but the name of it was Bloody Vinyl, with the “vinyl” being blue and “bloody” being red. He had a strange urge to check it out but looked away as the boys found a spot to rob from, a general grocery store.

“Hey Talon, what did you call me back at the cave again?” Jeff asked. “You warned Laila that I was..something?”

“A specter.” Talon replied as Nash was looking at his bat again. “It’s some weird thing that possesses people’s looks. We haven’t seen one in their original form but when they reveal themselves their eyes turn orange.”

“And it’s like a ghost? If you haven’t seen one before, how do you know when someone’s possessed?” 

“We can’t really tell until they attack, that’s what makes them so dangerous.” 

“And..they’ve attacked you before?” Jeff raised a brow. 

Nash cut in at this moment and explained. “They attack a lot of people! Laila thinks they attack to harness a soul or something, so we help the humans once in a while to drive them off. But the moment they see us they either attack or run!”

Talon nodded. “We’re not entirely sure why, the proxy Viper was the one that said he wanted to find out.”

“Viper?” Jeff asked, tilting his head. “Who’s Viper?”

“His name is Dustie!” Nash laughed out loud.

Talon continued, patting Nash’s head to inform him to be quiet. “Dustie is Masky’s and Hoodie’s son, but he goes by his proxy name Viper.”

“Why? Just a proxy name he has to use?” Jeff commented, getting a snort laugh from Nash but Talon only looked at the boy disapprovingly.

“He’s very sensitive about his name.” Talon hissed out. “Now come on let’s get inside.”

Nash ran in, grabbing a cart and playfully pushing it to a faster speed before climbing in. “WOO!”

“Nash don’t get yourself-” A crash followed Talon’s words but hearing the boy laugh he sighed. “Whatever..”

Jeff quickly put his hood up and stuck close to Talon. “Is this a regular spot you guys hit?”

“Nope, we change it up every now and then to keep police off our tail.”

“You’ve been chased by the cops?” Jeff couldn’t help but smirk, these kids were ballsy.

“Uh-huh.” Talon nodded, looking at the fruits on display and bagging up some apples. “Although I’m normally not the one being chased. Laila and I are careful whereas the others love the thrill.”

“You seem to listen to Laila a lot. Is she really the leader of you guys?” Jeff questioned. “I mean..if Slender is gone naturally someone took over.”

Talon’s blue eyes reflected conflict at Jeff’s question, but refused to look at him. “A lot of pressure has been put on her over the years, one day she just lashed out at the others for all the constant arguments and their stupidity and that none of them took the situation seriously. Of course she apologized immediately, but that’s when Malik confessed she was right and went out to look for answers.”

“And this was what happened two years ago right?” Jeff lowered his voice to avoid the customers around them over hearing.

“Yes, since then everyone broke off on their own accord. Cherry couldn’t stand being without her brother, but she hated to be controlled. She and two others went with her for a more “crazy fun” life. Then Dustie left to seek out specters to hunt, I’m guessing just to ignore reality. Just one after the other everyone started leaving until it was myself, Nash, Lorien, and Laila.” Talon answered.

“And it’s been two years since you’ve had any contact with them?” Jeff asked, if something happened like this back in his time it would be a painful experience. Not just for him but for everyone, even if most CP’s used to be alone all the time, now it would be impossible without wanting some form of contact.

“Look I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It doesn’t matter anyways.” Talon shrugged off, seeing Nash riding the cart in the distance and starting to chase after him. “Damn it Nash come back here!”

Jeff watched for a bit as Talon disappeared around the corner, thinking a bit before mumbling. “This is a mess, in and out my fucking ass Mara..”

He took a breath and sighed out. “Just talk to Laila, get an idea who’s the cause of this and leave. That’s it, you have no obligation to watch these kids.”

“Talking to yourself is a sure sign of insanity~”

Jeff jumped in his skin and looked at Nash by his side. “How the fuck did you get here?! I saw you on a cart less than a minute ago!”

Nash just shrugged, smiling big to show off his teeth. Jeff was genuinely creeped out but maybe he had a power or something? That was another thing bothering him. Nash and Talon look like normal kids, of course Laila has her mother's wings, but did the other CP kids have powers or develop anything? “Nash, do you have powers?”

The young kid tilted his head, a look of confusion crossed his face. “Powers? Like a hero?”

“Kind of..” Jeff rubbed the back of his head. “like..Slenderman could teleport around, move from one spot to the next. Your dad? Toby was basically invincible because he couldn’t feel pain.”

“Wow really!?” Nash’s eyes lit up. “I didn’t know that! I hope I get that power!”

Ok so that was a no..Jeff honestly didn’t want to ask Talon seeing that the kid was still doubting Jeff. Maybe he could ask Laila later, but for now they should steal what they needed and leave. “Nash where’s Talon?”

“Somewhere.” Nash chuckled, taking Jeff’s hand. “Let’s go find him!”

Although it seemed childish, Jeff followed and even played eye-spy with the kid as they walked. Nash was definitely a Toby child, and it got him thinking about the other CP’s that were together in his time. If he and LJ had kids, Hoodie and Masky as well, then that had maybe EJ and Ben- A cold and sickly chill went up Jeff’s spine and he shook his head to clear the thought. “Yeah right..Ben never liked the idea of kids..”

“Jeffy are you ok?” Nash asked, lightly tugging Jeff’s hand again and looking at him with his bright green eyes.

“Yeah I’m alright..Nash can you tell me about the other CP’s?” Jeff asked, stopping their movements for a minute.

“Talon said I’m not allowed to. He says that if I talk about them then the specters would find us.” Nash replied. “But you can ask Laila.”

“Ok, can you tell me why the humans have forgotten about the CP’s?” Jeff tried out.

“Laila said because they don’t know who we are that we’re not affected, and now that the Council is gone nothing can happen to us.” Nash answered. “She said it’s better to stay hidden.”

“Hmm..strange..” Jeff knew he would have to still talk to her about a lot of things.

“There you two are!” Talon shouted at them as he hurried over. “Come on, let’s get a cart and ride out of here.”

“Woohoo! Jailbreak!” Nash laughed and ran off again to grab a cart.

Talon looked furiously at Jeff. “Jeff I kindly ask you to stop prying. Just understand the group fell apart, CP’s are no longer connected. It’s not that hard.”

Jeff grit his teeth and growled back. “I was sent here to fix this-”

“You were sent to find someone, that’s it.” Talon seethed back. “Stop getting involved in our personal lives.”

“Why are you so peeved at me?” Jeff stepped closer, practically leaning over the kid to try and make him stand down. “If I want to figure out where this fucker is then I need your trust. All of you guys.”

Talon backed away, whether from intimidation or annoyance it was hard to tell, but he never looked away. “If you want our trust then you need to earn it. Just because you’re a legendary CP doesn’t mean shit to me, you’re still a killer at heart.”

Ouch, this kid was harsh. Then again he is from the under realm and he wasn’t lying. “Fine, I’ll do my best to earn your trust.”

The agreement made both of them relax, the sound of screeching tires caught them off guard as Nash ran over with a full cart of food all neatly organized. He smiled at the two and quickly crawled into the kid seat. “Come on! We need to get the food home!”

“Right, Jeff help me push it, we’re going straight home.” Talon ordered, already getting behind it to start up momentum.

Jeff couldn’t help but smirk, on one hand these kids were freaky and little shits, on the other? Stone cold bad asses. He quickly helped push the cart, actually taking over for Talon as the blonde ran ahead and kept the doors open. There were people yelling after them but Jeff quickly ran the cart outside, Talon grabbing onto the side and hauling himself in as the alarms blared behind them. Jeff felt a hint of nostalgia, like when he was on his own and had to steal food for a few years. A chuckle left his lips as he hopped onto the back of the cart and let it ride down the sidewalk with Nash laughing and Talon holding on for dear life. 

The killer quickly pressed the heel of his foot down to slow the cart before turning it to the woods and walking with it. “How was that kids?”

“Awesome!” Nash raised his arms. “That was the best heist ever!”

“That was..good.” Talon huffed, climbing out from the cart and helping pull it along. 

“Good?! Come on Talon that was fun!” Nash said as he turned in the seat and smiled at the older CP.

“Reckless.” Talon only huffed back. “Why not set the place on fire while we’re at it?”

“Can we?!” Nash asked hopefully.

“Nope.” Talon replied, ignoring the young one’s whine.

Their trip back to the lake was peaceful enough even with Nash’s occasional whines and childish comments. Talon helped Jeff get the cart inside where he insisted that he could make something from the metal on the cart. Laila was still on the couch, yawning and smiling as she saw the boys and got up to greet them.

“Laila! Look at what we got!” Nash bounced a bit as he took her hand and led her to the cart quickly.

“My this is more food than normal, good job boys.” She praised. “Now, get me get something together.”

“Like what? I thought you guys didn’t have electricity here?” Jeff asked as he looked around for a stove.

“Laila cooks with magic. She’s practiced for years.” Talon shrugged, walking off into the tunnel with Nash on his heels while Laila looked through the cart.

She hummed and took some food from the cart and her wings opened up a little, one actually flexing and scooping up the book from the couch. Jeff sat on the chair he left earlier and watched. “Laila, Talon seemed very mad at me tonight.”

“Oh Talon just doesn’t like anyone in his business. Ever since he was young he’s hated people looking at him like he was helpless.” Laila waved off, not even looking at Jeff.

“I mean that he got mad when I asked about the other CP’s.” Jeff elaborated. “I tried asking Nash and Talon basically told me to butt out.”

“Oh..you’ll have to forgive him Jeff. Talon just thinks that they hurt me. Sure I was upset, but they need to make their own choices to grow. But I don’t think you need to know anyone else.”

“Why is that?”

“Because they left remember?” Laila smiled at him sadly. “And I’m sorry to say but there’s nothing in the book that can simply track Malik.”

“What about the Viper Proxy? Dustie right? Talon mentioned he was hunting the specters.” Jeff asked, making Laila freeze up for a second.

“That wouldn’t be wise, Viper is very..he’s stubborn and has anger issues.” Laila replied, going back to the food. “I know it’s harsh, especially since he’s an amazing proxy, but he’s grown up with a lot of anger. He hates hearing that he’s wrong and he hates losing. I think Edan was the only one that could calm him down.”

“Who’s Edan? Laila if you’re going to tell me stories, could you please tell me everyone involved first?” Jeff sighed, rubbing his head. “My head hurts..”

“You’re right, my bad.” Laila giggled. “Edan is Ben and EJ’s son. He and Viper were dating for a couple years.”

“Oh great there’s romance drama? Where am i? A romantic comedy?” Jeff groaned, tugging his hair. “And you have to be kidding? They had a kid? Last time I checked Ben was completely against kids.”

“Jeff take it easy. Edan and Viper broke it off and haven’t spoken to each other since. That’s why I don’t think it’s important to contact either of them. As for Ben and EJ I don’t really know their story.”

“Why did they break up? Was Viper sick of Edan’s cannibalism?” Jeff almost wanted to gag from the question. 

“no..I don’t actually know why, he left a note for us and then took off. He left in the morning and the letter said that he couldn’t stay hidden anymore and that he had to call it off with Edan.” Laila replied, her brows furrowed a bit. “He couldn’t even face Edan, and Edan took off shortly saying that he needed to start his life.”

“Ouch, dear john letter huh?” Jeff huffed. “Ok so what about Cherry? Can she give us a clue?”

“Maybe..I would have to meet up with her, I can go tomorrow.” Laila shrugged.

“Let me go as well.” Jeff said, standing up from his chair.

“No way, sorry Jeff but it would be faster for me since I can fly.” Laila replied with emphasis on her wings as she flexed them.

“I just want to meet her alright? Can’t you just allow me that?” Jeff scoffed. “And we can use Lorien to get there.”

“Maybe..let me think about it. Boys! Dinner!” Laila called out, the cave echoing a little and she moved to the table with the suddenly prepared food on plates with fresh silverware. How the living fuck?

Jeff tried not to question it and sat down at the table, surprised at the chicken dish with rice and veggies. “So..the book doesn’t have a tracker spell but it has cooking spells?”

“No, it has minimal tracker spells, and a spell that can make any type of food or drink so long as you have the ingredients with you.” Laila smiled as she sat and the boys came running over to take a seat. Nash sat on a chair that had a pillow on it, raising him up a bit, and Talon sat next to Laila on her right. Jeff stayed on their left to keep an eye on the group, he still had more questions.

“Alright, so what’s our plan?” Jeff asked, taking a bite of his food.

“Well considering you want to get to Malik quickly, we can leave tomorrow to Cherry’s carnival.” Laila replied. “She runs it during the day and at night her and the others go through some killings to assholes in the carnival.”

“Can we go!?” Nash called out, still chewing his food.

“Sorry Nash, it’s only a quick visit.” Laila gave a small smile of apology to him. “If she knows how to find her brother then we’re lucky, if not we’ll have to try and find him ourselves.”

“Why not call in Viper? If he’s as good as you say-”

“He’s not welcomed here.” Talon grumbled, getting a light hit in the head from Laila.

“Talon be nice. Viper is family, he’s always welcomed here.” Laila scolded then looked to Jeff. “If we manage to find him and Cherry doesn’t know where Malik is, then we can look for him.”

“Is it really that awkward to talk to them?” Jeff raised a brow. “Seriously you guys haven’t even told me who the two are that are with Cherry currently.”

“I suppose you’re right..we might as well tell you since you already know most of the group.” Laila replied. “Actually, Nash do you want to tell Jeff about Roxie and Aya?”

“Yeah!” Nash exclaimed and looked at Jeff, trying to keep himself still in his seat. “Aya is awesome! She’s part ghost so she can go through walls! She’s really nice and likes to make sweets! And then Roxie is like Cherry, lots of laughs and has this bright blue hair!”

“Nash I think Jeff would want to know more than just looks.” Talon pointed out before adding. “Roxie is known to be like both her parents Candypop and Jason. She likes to sew dolls together. Aya is Sadie and Kagekao’s child, she’s a little strange but kind, and like Nash said she can go through walls from being half phantom blood.”

“Huh, we got a weird group.” Jeff shrugged, but looked to Laila as she giggled.

“Yes well, I don’t think having CP parents really change that. I’ll wake everyone up tomorrow when it’s time to go.” Laila Said, standing up from her spot and going to her couch to sleep.

“Going to bed already Laila?” Talon asked, but laced with worry.

“It’s been an emotionally and mentally straining day Talon. Of course it is only 11pm so you guys don’t have to sleep yet.” Laila replied, laying down and curling up.

Talon seemed unhappy by this answer but Nash excused himself. “I’m gonna go play then!”

As the small CP left Talon and Jeff quietly ate to let Laila rest, but Jeff was curious about why Talon seemed worried. It’s not like taking a nap was a bad thing. He leaned forward a bit and whispered to Talon. “Does she nap often?”

Talon glanced between Jeff and Laila before whispering back. “It’s becoming more frequent over the years..it can’t be healthy for her.”

Jeff nodded in understanding and got up. “I’m not going to bed yet, I think I’ll go outside and look around.”

“If you plan to go out maybe Nash or I should go with you. Lot’s of things have changed after all.” Talon pointed out, standing up as well.

“Fine I’ll take Nash, but I was only going to walk around.” Jeff replied with a huff as he began to move to the stairs. “Nash! Come on! We’re going on a walk!”

Quick fumbling echoed in the room as Nash ran out, dragging his bat along behind him and stumbling on his shoelaces a bit. “Wait up!”

Jeff waited as requested, watching Nash tie his laces before running ahead and the killer following him out. As the two walked, Nash would point out the different animals and plants that used to thrive in plenty in the forest. His chatter was interesting, although he was talking so fast that Jeff could only let out grunts of agreement or small “that’s nice.” He was honestly awed by Nash’s knowledge of plants and animals, it must be something he took an interest in because of the kids, namely Laila. It seems like a trait Laila would carry from Mara, teaching others about the world and it’s beauty. 

“And then-then, a giant hawk came down and swooped up the snake right in front of me!” Nash carried on with his story, smiling back at Jeff. “I was tempted to hit it with my bat and take it home but I knew Laila would get mad.”

“Probably not a good idea to take any wild animal home.” Jeff agreed and didn’t realize until he looked ahead, just how close they were to the old burned down mansion.

The pale man stepped closer and began rummaging through the wood and debris, Nash watching curiously as he tilted his head. “Jeffy? What are you looking for?”

“Clues, anything to help me figure out what happened here.” Jeff said then looked to Nash with a smile. “How about you help be my sidekick?”

“Ok!” Nash smiled, dropping his bat and running over, starting to throw pieces of debris around.

It was possible there was a clue as to what attacked the CP’s, or maybe some clue as to just what led to the downfall in the first place. “Hey Nash, do you know anything about the CP’s before they suddenly disappeared?”

“Uhh..no, Laila and the others don’t talk about it. They said it’s hard to explain.” Nash replied, taking out a bent piece of metal. “There’s a lot of metal and glass here!”

“Watch your hands then!” Jeff called back and looked up, where Nash was standing would be where the TV used to be. “I would’ve expected everything to be covered in dirt by now..”

“Jeffy? Is this something?” Nash yelled out, holding up a small item that glowed red in his fingers.

Jeff got up and walked closer, now realizing that nothing seemed to be covered in dirt or bugs. It was untouched..As Jeff carefully stepped around the wood he looked at the red stone which looked like a normal rock but it was glowing so brightly. “Any idea what it is?”

Nash shook his head. “A ruby? It looks really pretty.”

Said stone began to dim and brighten rapidly, going dark to light with it’s red glow and only accelerated. Nash stared with enchantment but Jeff felt uneasy, standing tall as he peered into the forest around them. He heard a snap and picked up Nash quickly as a large figure lunged towards them, Nash was jolted out from his entrancement and wrapped his arms around Jeff with a yelp. Jeff quickly jumped back, nearly losing balance on the wood pile but quickly ran and got back onto the grass. 

The figure stood tall around 6 foot 4, a dark shadowy figure that looked like a deformed knight looked at them with a smoky orange aura leaking out from the cross opening on the front of the helmet. The body didn’t look intact though as if it was a ghost or phantom, the armor was there but it was spiked on shoulders, knees, arms, and the helmet. There was a orange smoke emanating from the cracks of the armor, showing that there was no skin under the armor. The figure moved slowly, supposedly watching them as it pulled the battle axe out of the ground that was aimed for them.

Jeff set Nash down, handing him the bat. “Nash, go home now.”

“But-” Nash was about to whine out but quickly cut off by Jeff.

“Go!”

The young one bolted into the woods, still holding the red stone as he ran. The knight turned its head from Jeff to Nash and began to walk forward, slowly increasing into a sprint. Jeff grabbed one of the burned pieces of wood and slammed it into the knight’s leg, making it halt and kneel over from surprise, but was just as quick getting up and swiping the axe at Jeff. The killer stumbled back and watched with surprise as the knight stepped closer, he knew his knife would not be strong enough to penetrate the armor and not strong enough to keep the axe off. There was no indication of this thing even being alive!

Jeff continued to step back, measuring the knight’s patience and soon enough it ran at him and raised the axe high before landing the blade into the spot Jeff was just standing on. Releasing a growl Jeff ran to the side, hearing the heavy metal clink as the knight chased him onto the wood pile. Grabbing out his knife he turned and waited for the knight to swing its axe, jumping to the side in time and lunging his blade to where the neck of the creature should be. His knife slipped right through, successfully shocking and pissing Jeff off at the same time.

“Oh you have to be fucking joking!” Jeff yelled but let out a grunt of pain as the axe pommel connected with his stomach and shoved back into the pile.

Jeff heard glass beneath him shatter and looked at the knight as it raised it’s axe again, grabbing a larger hunk of wood and holding it over him as the axe came down. The wood broke in half, but there was enough pressure in return to throw the axe up higher and miss his shoulder. He grabbed onto the handle of the axe and kicked the knight in the chest hard, which resulted in the knight backing up as Jeff hauled himself up and brought the axe up with him. It was heavy but Jeff managed to lift it and smirk as he pointed the blade at the knight. 

“Whose got the upper hand now?” Jeff sneered, only for the smirk to vanish as the axe suddenly puffed into smoke that collected around the knight.

There was almost a dark chuckle from the creature as the axe reformed in its hands, pointing it back at Jeff as the killer’s eyes widened a little. “Well son of a fucking demon bitch-”

The axe was swung at him, Jeff ducking quickly and climbing off the wooden stack as the knight followed. Jeff could hear the air being cut in half with every swing, but noticed how the knight’s attacks were slower and precise. He grinned and ducked under the next swing, sliding under the knights legs before turning and climbing onto the back of the knight and ripping the helmet off. The orange aura was manifested to the shape of a head but as the helmet was removed it began to let out a ghostly wail and reached back to get Jeff off. He threw the helmet aside and tried to stab through the orange smoke, but his knife slid through like it was fog. 

The knight finally grabbed Jeff’s arms and threw him over his back and slammed him down onto the cold ground. Jeff felt something pop as he landed, grunting in pain as he looked up to see the knight lifting its axe again. He wheezed and quickly moved to get up, only getting into a sitting position before seeing the knight freeze and spaz out, dropping the axe to its side as the aura flew out of the suit into the sky, the armor turning to ash on the ground. Jeff panted, objectively trying to get his air back before looking up and seeing Nash with his bat on the ground, the helmet in pieces before it too crumbled and turned to ash.

Large drops of tears were gathered in the kids eyes as he dropped the bat and ran over, hugging Jeff who groaned in pain as a scorching heat burst through his chest. He felt his shoulder getting wet but he sighed and rubbed the kids back as he let him cry. Jeff looked over where the helmet was and saw an odd orange shard and then looked at Nash, carefully pulling the kid away to see his face. “Nash, how did you know where to hit it?”

“I-i-” Nash hiccuped, wiping his tears away with his sleeve. “I didn’t- b-but in the m-movies if something is glowing i-it’s either a life source o-or something that blows up. There was an o-orange thing in it.”

The kid wasn’t wrong..Jeff nodded and slowly got up and limped to the shard, picking it up and being able to tell right away it was a stone similar to the red one they found. “Come on Nash, let’s head back. I think Laila needs to see these stones.”

Nash let out a loud whine but nodded his head and Jeff sighed. He carefully picked Nash up in his arms, giving him the shard while he walked back to the lake. Jeff was in pain, but he could still move, and right now he was more concerned about what attacked him and Nash. And why did it try to attack Nash first?


	4. Shadows in the Day

“What happened?!” Laila cried out as she ran over, taking a sleepy Nash from Jeff’s arms as Talon pulled out a chair for Jeff to sit.

“A fucking ghost knight attacked me is what.” Jeff groaned as he sat down, somewhat in relief but still in pain. “It gave me a run for my money..”

Laila walked to a small blue bean bag and set Nash on it to let him sleep, seeing the two glowing pieces in his hands she carefully took them and walked back over to Jeff and Talon. The blonde CP checked Jeff over, gently prodding at Jeff’s back and chest. “You’ll need to remove your shirt, I can get a better analysis that way.”

Jeff complied and looked at Laila as she held out the red stone and orange shard. “I have no idea what they are..I was hoping you would know.”

Laila gave a curious look but nodded and set them on the table, looking at the gems. Talon soon stopped and said to Jeff. “scrapes and bruises, you have pieces of glass in your back, do you feel any pain breathing?”

“Nah, just sore..the glass explains the pain.” Jeff replied as Talon stepped behind him. 

“Sit still ok? I need to get it out.” Talon spoke as Jeff hissed when he felt Talon’s cold fingers dig out the glass.

Jeff gripped the edge of his seat as he tried not to twitch, bending forward to keep the jagged glass from sinking back in. Talon carefully removed the glass piece by piece, looking at the cart of stuff they stole and asked Laila. “Laila could you grab me the first aid?”

“You got a new one?” Laila asked as she stood and dug through the food.

“Yeah, we ran out of antibacterial cream in the other one.” Talon said, momentarily wiping his bloody fingers off on his pants.

“Here you go.” Laila replied after a couple minutes and handed him the new kit, sitting back down and looking at the stones.

Jeff hissed as the cream was applied to his wounds, and a large square bandage being placed over it. “So you’re the doctor of the family?”

“I have some medical practice, we all do.” Talon answered. “Laila insisted on it, but Edan is the one that can do complex injuries like organ ruptures and broken bones.”

“Is that right?” Jeff mumbled slowly feeling the pain ease and relaxed his body.

“Jeff where did you find these?” Laila asked, looking up at him skeptically.

“I went to the mansion, or well what’s left, and Nash found the red stone. After he picked it up though I must have a tracker or something on it because then the knight appeared. When the knight was destroyed all that was left was that orange shard.” Jeff explained briefly, pointing to the shard. “So, anything?”

“Well I don’t know my rocks that well..the red one is a garnet, the orange one is only a shard, I can’t tell.” Laila shrugged. “We can talk to someone in the city tomorrow.”

“You can just go talk to someone? Back at home only the proxies could go to town.” Jeff huffed.

“We look human enough that we can get in without a problem. In fact, the only one in the group that couldn’t pass off very well would be Edan and Aya.” Laila said. “The only time we could pass off as humans is if we were injured or the Killer instinct takes hold of us.”

“Killer instinct..I know that term it’s when we go ape-shit right?” Jeff asked, snapping his fingers a bit and raising an arm for Talon to patch it up.

“Exactly, our senses enhance and our humanity or awareness drops significantly to fuel our blood lust.” Laila nodded. “We can talk to someone tomorrow about it..”

“I did notice that they have a distinct glow.” Talon spoke up. “That has to be magic of some kind.”

“Only Aya would know.” Laila replied, getting up. “She’s the only one whos studied the magic of all supernatural beings.”

“Can’t you look up anything in your book?” Jeff grumbled, looking over to the old book on the bed.

“I can, but it doesn’t specify what is dark magic, natural magic, white magic, or anything like that. It only gives spells and what they do, or the uses of charms that Zalgo withheld.” Laila explained. “Because Aya is part phantom she wanted to learn all the magic but it is a stressful thing to do, especially magic that are complete opposites.”

“I see..fuck you guys really need to rally everyone together. If you didn’t split apart we might have found this bastard.” Jeff chided lightly.

“Jeff this is our life, we’ll be seeing the girls tomorrow so just wait until then.” Talon hissed out before getting up and going to his couch, laying down with his back towards them.

Laila gave an apologetic smile and kneeled down in front of Jeff, finishing up the bandaging that Talon left. Now being so close Jeff could see the bags under her eyes, and how ruffled and unclean her feathers are. He sighed softly. “Don’t you have anyone to take care of you?”

Her wing’s twitched at his words but her eyes stayed focused on his wounds. “I have to take care of the others first, then I can take care of myself.”

“You’ll run yourself into the ground.” Jeff points out, only getting a shrug from her.

“If I do I’m not going out in a bad way. I plan on passing the book to Aya when we go to visit her.” Laila explained, getting up and packing away the medical supplies. “My hope is now that you’re here, maybe we can pull everyone together..”

“Did you know I was coming?” He questions, standing up and watching her.

She gave a soft smile. “No, but I've been praying for a long time for an answer.”

Laila indicated she was done for the night as she packed the gems into her pocket and went to her couch, laying on her back as she lifted the book up to read. Seeing that there wasn’t much else to do, Jeff took one of the empty Lawson couches and laid down on his stomach to prevent injury to his arms or back. He released a pained and exhausted breath, feeling himself give into sleep from all the strain from this day. He’s only been in this time for a few hours, and in those few hours he’s had the shock of his life, witnessed the fall of his city and home, and met the future kids of the CPs. And nearly cut in half to put the cherry on top of all the shit he went through..

The next day, there were voices and footsteps that awoke Jeff, his vision blurred a bit as it focused and his consciousness came back to him. He listened, not moving yet as he heard Laila and Talon talking.

“I don’t like you going to Cherry’s home..”

“Talon, Cherry is a good friend. You even admired her fighting.” 

“She’s as twisted as she is unpredictable.” Talon pressed further. “You know she is stronger than you.”

“Cherry would never hurt us. I don’t want you and Nash alone here since Jeff was attacked..we’re all going to see her. Besides, if she does know where Malik is then we can get this mess done and Jeff can go back to his time and deliver the news.”

“I’m more worried about why a specter was here in the first place, they’ve only been close to the city, why are they here now?”

“Perhaps it has to do with this garnet. Look, don’t worry. We’re going to the jeweler, then to Cherry’s home to ask about Malik, ask Aya about the gems, and then leave.” Laila’s voice was calm and confident. 

There was a slight grumble but it silenced, and Jeff turned his head to look at the kids to see Laila hugging Talon to her body as he hugged back. His eyes were sticking to the ground and his body tense, but seemed to ease as Laila hummed and wrapped her wings around him.

“You need to groom your wings before we go. You won’t be able to make tight turns.” Talon points out, pulling from the hug.

“Yeah I know, I’ll get to cleaning them.” Laila chuckled as she walked to her couch and took out a brush and gently began going through her feathers.

Talon walked to Nash and gently tapped the boy’s shoulder to wake him, and Jeff sat up from the couch and muttered out. “What time is it?”

“8pm.” Talon replied, not even looking to Jeff as he answered.

“Jesus I don’t think I’ve slept that long before.” Jeff yawned, rubbing his sore neck. “Well except when I was depressed..”

“The candles provide light and a soothing feeling that lulls you to sleep.” Laila replied, looking up at the candles. “Speaking of, I’ll need to get new ones soon.”

Jeff stood and stretched, grunting at the pops coming from his limbs and back, feeling small stings from his wounds. Nash slowly got up, yawning and rubbing his eyes before looking at Laila with a tired smile. “Laila, what’s going on? It’s still early..”

“I know Nash, but we’re going to see Cherry, Aya, and Roxie today.” Laila said, pulling some old feathers off her wings.

Nash lit up and jumped around. “Yes! We’re going to the carnival! We’re going to the carnival!”

Jeff moved as the kid dashed past him to the stairs and looked to Talon. “City first right?”

“Yeah, I’ll get Nash.” Talon said and ran after the kid.

The older killer looked to Laila, who was still carefully plucking out feathers and dirt, and asked. “You coming?”

“I am, just trying to clean up a bit.” Laila nodded. “Go on up, I’ll be there in a second.”

Jeff nodded and walked upstairs, petting Lorien on his way up and getting a purr from the demon. Looking to Talon, who was watching Nash run around the woods, he called out. “Is Lorien going to?”

“Not to the city. When we figure out the rocks Laila will call him.” Talon replied, only glancing over his shoulder for a moment then returned to watching the hyper brunette.

“Why not? Can’t he just shrink?” Jeff asked, rolling his shoulders back and standing by him.

“He’s not a sponge Jeff, he’s a fully mature demon.” Talon scoffed, crossing his arms. “Lorien isn’t tiny because he’s an adult, and now he can only grow to his final form and shift back to his current form.”

This kid's smart mouth was going to get him in trouble one day..Jeff thought as he rolled his eyes. Laila came out a second later, kissing the top of Lorien’s head and whispering something to him before he hid under the water again. “Ready guys?”

“Yep.” Talon nodded, starting to walk to the city as Nash ran ahead.

“Hey Laila, what about your wings?” Jeff pointed out, looking at her and walking beside her.

“Oh, everyone thinks I’m wearing a cosplay, so it’s no big deal.” Laila smiled. “Jeff, can you tell me something? What was my father like before he met my mother? And what was my mother like before she became a CP?”

“She never told you?” Jeff was actually surprised by this, the girl was safe for at least 13 years with Mara.

“When I was 5 she told me I had to start training. She never told me why, she just said that things are gonna happen in the future that I need to be ready for.” Laila replied, looking ahead of them. “She wouldn’t tell me much about the past, only saying that it’s better if I didn’t know.”

Jeff couldn’t understand why at first, but it hit him like a fucking knife to the gut from Jane. Mara probably didn’t want the kids to know about the power the Council had and all the shit that went down. Or maybe it was something else? Maybe Mara knew who the traitor was? “Well, I’ll think about it.”

Laila looked a little upset but the reply but agreed to his terms. “If nothing else, can you tell the others about their parents? Some of them probably don’t remember them or know their stories as well.”

“Did you ever tell them about their families?” Jeff asked. “Surely they would’ve talked to you first.”

“I was..too busy just keeping everyone alive.” Laila replied softly. “But I think they’d like to hear it more from you, the others might think I’m just spinning fables.”

He nodded and pulled his hood up as they got out of the forest, Talon now firmly holding Nash’s hand so he couldn’t run off. “Anyone remember where the jeweler is at?”

“I do!” Laila smiled, pointing up the street. “Should just be at the end of the block by the toy store.”

The four walked together, getting occasional odd stares but no comments as the street lights shined above the sidewalks. Of course the city lights flooded out the stars that could normally be seen from the forest, the lights actually were bright enough to hurt Jeff’s eyes, and that’s saying something considering how many people have pranked him by flashing a light in his face. Jeff wasn’t sure how in 19 years the humans had forgotten about them or at least were so easily convinced they were human. Perhaps with the new culture they were completely desensitized from fear.

The bell in the doorway went off as Laila walked through into the jewelry store, greeting the cashier and walking with him. “Hi there!”

“Oh hello, what interesting wings.” The cashier said playfully. “Going out dancing?”

“The carnival.” Laila shrugged, setting the stones on the counter. “Can you identify what these stones are?”

“Hmm..” the cashier hummed before walking to a desk in the back. “Give me a second! I have a chart somewhere!”

Laila waited patiently, while the boys looked around the store, and Jeff was pretty sure he could see Talon drooling over the rings. Nash didn’t seem to be too interested, only looking around and trying to entertain himself.The man came back with a chart and examined the stones on the counter, after a couple minutes he pointed to each stone saying. “Well this one is a garnet, and the yellow one is sphalerite. You’re pretty lucky to have a sphalerite piece, these are hard to find.”

“Thank you very much.” Laila replied, taking the stones and handing off to Jeff. “let’s go boys.”

Jeff stuffed the stones in his pocket and followed the kids out, asking as they walked. “So how far is the carnival?”

“Well, using Lorien to get there, we’ll probably get there within an hour and a half to two hours.” Laila answered then smiled at Talon. “Talon, will you call him?”

Talon looked around for any people before crossing the street to a parking lot and whistling up into the sky with a high pitch. They all waited before Lorien came flying through the trees and landed in the parking lot, making some of the car alarms go off as he purred and lowered his body down. He was bigger this time, being 20 feet with a wing span of 35 feet, Jeff didn’t question it since his demon abilities are still unknown to him. Talon climbed up and Lorien lowered a wing at an angle for Jeff and Nash to climb up, Jeff having trouble with footing for a moment. Laila kept watch as Lorien started to flap his wings and take off into the sky, trying to stay in the dark while the others held onto his back.

Jeff watched over the side as Lalia stretched her wings and followed them, the lights from the city making her wings glow until she was above them and giggled. “Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve flown. Come on Lorien! We’re going to see the girls!”

Laila went ahead and Lorien let out a cheerful “ya-ta!” before following, the cold wind practically whipped the boys as the large demon picked up speed.

Nash laughed and raised his arms, Talon seated behind him to keep an eye on him, but kept one hand firmly on Lorien’s back. Jeff hadn’t noticed before how Lorien’s skin was so smooth, the demonic skin was easy to hold and his muscles flexed with each flap. A small chuckle escaped the killer as he looked over to see the city below, but noticed how the lights could still reach them and yelled out to Laila. “Laila! We need to get higher up!”

“Don’t worry!” Laila shouted back, backing up and flying beside them. “We’re doing this on purpose! Maybe humans will believe in us again!”

She flew ahead of them again and Talon looked back at Jeff. “Zalgo once told me humans didn’t need to believe in us for us to live, but he said it was important for humans to fear something. Without the CP’s, ghosts, or demons, humans become fearless and our way of living changes from being feared to being hunted.”

Jeff thought about this and asked. “Do you know about the great genocide from 2019?”

“Yeah! It’s been a mark on both CP and human history!” Talon replied before facing forward again and holding Nash to keep him from climbing onto Loriens head.

“If it was a success, then why are people forgetting!?” Jeff snapped. “We worked our asses off!”

“Because Jeff-” Laila called back, slowing down again to fly next to Jeff. “whatever took our parents away..also allowed people around the world to populate and there was no more fear from CP’s and demons. We became myths, stories, and growing up we were not ready to kill.”

Jeff carefully listened, although the cold wind made his ears numb. It made sense that only 11 CP’s could not instill the same fear that his generation made. Nothing was said as Lorien kept flying ahead and time slipped by slowly, similar for waiting on Dr.Smiley to be done doing an autopsy. No one said anything, Jeff stayed in his own thoughts but slipped back into reality as Lorien suddenly let out a screech and leaned back, making the three hold onto him tightly. Laila flew ahead and kicked the specter that had spooked Lorien, making it back away as Lorien stabilized and Jeff climbed onto his shoulder to see.

“What the fuck?! They can fly now?!” Talon shouted, holding Nash close to him as he stared at the specter with surprise.

The Specter was similar to the specter knights as far as the glowing orange eyes and smoky yet complete black body. But it had no armor, just black scales and large sharp orange claws that looked to be the same rock from the first knight. What was strange was it looked like a smaller version of a dragon, no front legs, only back legs and wings. It’s mouth opened and let out a roar, showing it spiked orange teeth.

“It’s a wyvern!” Talon yelled out, making Loiren yell in retaliation to the dragon.

Said wyvern flew forward and Laila flew under it to dodge as Lorien flew over it and latched his teeth onto the specters neck, the two spinning in circles in a lock. Jeff hung on tightly to Lorien as the area became blurry and Talon wrapped his arms around Lorien to the best of his ability. The next second the wyvern clawed into Lorien’s side and made Lorien let go with a pained screech, the yank making Nash lose his grip and fall off the demons back, screaming out in panic. Laila gasped as she dived down to catch Nash, Jeff looking over before looking ahead and quickly climbing up to Lorien’s head. 

“Come on buddy, charge into him!” Jeff encouraged, making Lorien shriek and charge at the wyvern, bashing his head into the specter and Jeff jumped onto it’s back.

Lorien took the hint and backed off, Laila flying up to Lorien and handing Nash to Talon. “Quickly! Get to the Carnival!”

“What about you?” Talon asked quickly, holding Nash to his body with one arm and the other hand holding onto Lorien.

“I’ll help out Jeff!” Laila replied quickly, putting her back around Talon that held the book. “Get going!”

Lorien nodded and flew off, despite Talon’s objection to go back, and Laila turned to the specter with hatred in her violet eyes. The wyvern was so distracted by Jeff, attempting to shake him off, that he didn’t notice the girl fly towards him and stabbed a pocket knife into its left eye. Orange liquid seeped out from the eye, but she kept it firmly in its eye. She held onto it’s muzzle tightly as it furiously shook its head, and looked at Jeff who was searching around. “Jeff!”

“Look for a crystal like the one we have!” Jeff ordered as he held on and kept looking around its back.

Laila jumped off the wyvern’s face, yanking the knife out of its left eye in the process and it turned its head to her and lunged at her with its mouth, snapping its jaws at her. She flew up, making Jeff hold onto its neck tightly as the body turned vertically to chase the angel. Pulling himself higher, Jeff looked at its wings but cursed seeing nothing, but turned his attention ahead hearing Laila wail in fear.

“Jeff!” She cried, pulling her feet close as the wyvern chomped at her, barely missing her.

A sudden jab of protectiveness came to Jeff as he took out his knife and stabbed the right eye of the dragon specter, making it scream and stop mid air to turn and try to bite Jeff. Laila stopped as she watched in fear, but noticed the gem on the beasts stomach. “Jeff! The stone is on its belly!”

“Then stab it!” Jeff yelled out as he felt his grip loosen on the scales of the beasts neck.

Doing as she was told she charged down, dodging the claws as the beast kicked its hind legs in panic. She stabbed her knife into the stone, cracking her knife in the process but it shattered and the wyvern’s body began to decay into ash as it let out a guttural roar. As the body began to vanish, Jeff pulled the knife out and lost his grip completely, feeling himself being pulled down by gravity. “Laila!”

She didn’t miss a beat, her wings pulling in as she nose-dived to grab Jeff, holding out her hands to grab him. He in turn, raised his left hand out and grabbed onto her wrist as both her hands wrapped around his pale wrist. With the sudden weight, Laila’s wings faltered for a second as she flapped them harder to hold both of them up. Jeff smirked as she panted, trying to catch her breath as she began to fly back on course to find Lorien and the others.

“You did well Laila, fought like a true CP.” Jeff praised, putting the knife in his pocket as he moved his right hand to hold onto her wrist.

She glanced down, her hair messy from both the wind and excitement she just experienced. “Really? You really think so?”

“Your mom would’ve loved to see that.” Jeff nodded, gaining his breath back. “You haven’t fought a whole lot have you?”

“Well, I practice..but that’s the first specter I’ve ever fought.” Laila explained. “Are you ok uncle Jeff?”

Hearing the word uncle with his name was definitely something to get used to. “Yeah, a bit winded but it won’t last long. Where did the others go?”

“I sent them away, they should be ahead of us.” Laila replied, her wings flapping harder as she tried to move faster. “No offense Jeff, but you’re kind of heavy..”

“Maybe you’re just weak.” Jeff countered with a grumble. “You and I are close in age I can’t be that much heavier than you. I’ll have you know I’m also very fit!”

She let out a small giggle. “Ok ok sorry, I do need to train more with my flying. Just..try not to move around.”

“Still as a rag doll, I got it.” Jeff agreed, trying to not move for her even though she was doing most of the moving.

Perhaps another 10 minutes past before Lorien came to view and Laila let out a sigh of relief, flapping her wings faster and yelling out. “Boys! Lorien! Wait up!”

“La-La! Jeffy! Are you guys ok!?” Nash yelled out, ignoring talon as he walked along Lorien’s back and waved his arms.

Lorien slowed down but kept his body flat as possible to let them get on his back as he kept flying. Once Jeff was on safely, Nash hugged him and Laila landed next to Talon, her wings going limp. Talon checked over Laila as Jeff rubbed Nash’s back, asking them. “You kids ok?”

“Nash was shaken up but we’re ok now..” Talon said before asking Laila. “Are you alright Laila? You’re not hurt?”

“No Talon I’m ok, just tired from flying.” Laila smiled softly.

Nash pulled away from Jeff and hugged Laila around her waist, nuzzling his head to her stomach. “I’m so glad you both are ok! I thought..well I don’t know! I fell then you sent us away!”

“I know Nash, I’m sorry.” Laila apologized. “But I only sent you two away for your safety.”

“Even so, you scared the shit out of us!” Talon scolded. “We wouldn’t know what to do if..”

“Talon, neither of us would’ve died.” Laila said firmly. “If you think negatively then you’re only asking for bad things.”

Talon’s head tilted down but Laila cupped his cheek and smiled, making him lift his head up. Is Jeff the only one who could see this? This bullshit chemistry? It is a fucking sitcom! And what’s with Nash’s nickname for him and Laila? Jeff cleared his throat to get their attention before asking. “If that is the first flying specter, does this mean the person making them is getting stronger?”

“It’s hard to say.” Laila replied, holding Nash in her arms. “It’s possible, or maybe they had to use a lot of magic to make it.”

“Normally wyverns can breathe fire..” Talon commented. “Maybe this was just the first copy, it hasn’t been improved. That would also explain why it was so much smaller, it was only about 15 feet where a dragon would be at least 20 feet.”

“You know what? I honestly don’t care, I’m glad it wasn’t complete.” Jeff huffed, crossing his arms.

“Jeff, what he’s saying is that next time it could be even stronger. And for all we know, the stone could be in a different location when we fight it again.” Laila explained. “We need to get you home as soon as possible..”

“I’m not leaving until I get this bastard.” Jeff growled. “Might even kill him or her for kicks.”

Laila shook her head and laid down, letting Nash squirm away while Talon scooted back to Lorien’s neck and pet the top of his head. Jeff scooted up more on Lorien’s back while Nash sat next to him and tugged his hoodie. “Jeffy?”

He repressed a sigh as he looked to the young kid and said. “What is it Nash?”

“Could..you tell me a story now?” Nash asked with a lopsided smile. “please?”

Jeff thought and then nodded. “Sure, what do you want to hear?”

“What about god-mama Mara?” Nash smiled more now, getting situated and holding Jeff’s arm.

Jeff glanced at Talon and Laila, and although they weren’t facing him, he could tell they were listening. He thought carefully and then responded. “Ok..how about I tell you..about how she started the human genocide?”

Nash’s green eyes widened. “She was the one that did that?”

“Yep..you see, Slender was hiding the truth to keep others from panicking..but for a while we weren’t allowed to love anyone, and that was because if we did we would lose our killer instinct and our lives. He then recruited Mara, when she was a human, and let me tell you even then she would give you a run for your money.” Jeff chuckled.

Nash gasped a bit. “Why as a human? Why did Slender ask for her help?”

“Well..to be honest, partly because of me..you see when Mara was an orphan..a child around your age, she and I met in an alleyway. Even as a kid, she was smart, and unafraid..and miraculous, she met a few other CP’s while growing up. At the time, human’s were starting to forget about us, and Slender wanted someone to help spark our existence again.” Jeff explained, smiling a bit.

“Wow, and she chose a genocide?” He asked in confusion. 

“Actually, she was really adamant at first. Mara didn’t think it was her place to choose who died, but she had a strong sense of justice and warmed up to the idea after a while. She was adopted into a rich family, and used money and her parents resources to help the CP’s train and planned the perfect way to get the human’s attention again. And the genocide not only worked, but she challenged the Council to give the CP’s their rights back.” Jeff smirked in pride, chuckling at Nash’s excitement.

“Then what? How did she become a CP? How did she get with god-papa Lou? Did humans try to find you guys?” 

“Easy kid, don’t get a hernia.” Jeff patted his head and replied. “After the genocide people did come to the forest to try and find us, or at least for a tourist attraction for the first month. She became a CP due to Zalgo though, it was not ideal at the time or asked, but he started transforming her. After she got her wings and a siren voice she decided to stay as a CP and live us, disconnecting herself from her human life. As for her and Lou? I don’t really know when they started liking each other, I only found out about them after she decided to stay.”

“Wow..that’s so cool! Next time tell me a story about my dad!” Nash smiled. “Does he have cool stories?”

“Kid, there are hundreds of stories from the CP’s. I am sure I can think of a good one with Toby.” Jeff bragged.

“Pinky promise?” Nash asked, holding out his right pinky finger.

Jeff chuckled and crossed his pinky with Nash’s. “Promise.”

Lorien let out a loud thunderous roar, catching everyone’s attention and Laila sat up with a smile. “There it is guys.”

In the distance, there was a large carnival with many rides and the whole place lit up with a variety of colors that reflected the rainbow spectrum. The sound of laughter overpowered the music playing at the carnival, along with joyous screams from people on the coasters. Lorien slowed down, stopping himself in the small patch of trees and laying down to let the other’s get off. Talon climbed off and sighed. “A Carnival is a dangerous place, we should be careful.”


	5. Queens of Fun

The four walked to the back of the carnival, Laila carrying them over the fence one at a time. Talon found a storage room and kicked the door open, busting the lock in the process and grabbing four masks. He came back and handed Nash a lion mask, giving Laila a feathered white mask, and Jeff a black mask that would cover his whole face. Talon pulled the half red and half black mask over his face and said. “Let’s find Cherry asap, if anything she’s probably enjoying the rides.”

“She owns this place right?” Jeff asked as he put the mask over his face. 

“Yes, but she goes around to entertain others and enjoy herself too!” Nash smiled, pulling the mask over his head. “Cherry said that if you’re gonna work you should have fun too!”

“Well, she also goes around to find assholes to kill that try to hurt others or try to ruin her park.” Talon added.

“Yes, but her laugh is distinct.” Laila said positively. “And both Aya and Roxie are pretty easy to find, although it’s easy to get lost and distracted in a carnival. We should try to stick together.”

“Agreed. Let’s get going.” Jeff nodded and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he walked out into the crowd.

The place was busy as people ran around and were going to different stands, but the vendors looked human. Did the humans really think Cherry and the others were human as well? They all walked together, Laila taking Nash’s hand to keep him from wandering while Talon took his bat so he wasn’t dragging it. Jeff grumbled as someone shoved aside to get through and sighed. “This is why I hate carnivals, just a bunch of crowds.”

“What did you say Jeff? You have to speak up.” Laila shouted over the voices in the carnival.

“I hate crowds!” Jeff shouted and growled. “I only liked going with LJ because he knew when the slowest times were.”

“Well sorry Jeff, Cherry’s carnival is extremely popular, people from around the world come here.” Laila replied. 

The killer grumbled but continued to follow the kids, looking out for mainly the hair colors of these kids. White, pink, and blue. Easy enough, hopefully. “You said that Cherry had a distinct laugh?”

“Uh-huh, it’s just like Laughing Jack’s.” Talon shouted back, nudging between two guys to get past. 

“Hey! I think that’s Aya!” Nash yelled, pulling at Laila’s hand.

“W-what wait Nash!” Laila yelled as he slipped from her grasp, then proceeded to chase him.

“Laila! Nash!” Talon shouted as he followed, Jeff chased after them and tried to look over the crowd but the mask wasn’t helping.

The two continued to shove through the crowd but there was no sign of Laila or Nash and Talon cursed. “We need to get up high!”

Jeff grabbed a hold of his shirt and stopped him before he tried to climb up a stall. “Hold it! Take it easy Talon!”

“Take it easy!? We don’t know where Nash and Laila went and you want me to take it easy?!” Talon snapped, struggling again but Jeff pulled him again to make him still.

“You know what your problem is kid? You overreact to every fucking thing that goes wrong.” Jeff scowled at him, this made him freeze completely.

“Who are you to judge-”

“Because I did the same thing.” Jeff huffed, finally letting go. “You have to learn to bend, or you’ll break over the smallest changes.”

Talon only glared at him but then looked past Jeff and his eyes widened. “Roxie!”

“What?” Jeff raised a brow but Talon only ran past him. “fuck, wait Talon!”

Following after the boy Jeff ripped off the mask to keep his eyes on him as he maneuvered through the crowds, but was thrown off as someone slammed into him and knocked him to the ground. The man stuttered and got up, helping Jeff up without hesitation. “O-oh shit sorry man!”

The man was dressed as a scarecrow and Jeff grumbled. “It’s fine..hey wait, do you know Cherry by chance?”

He looked confused but nodded. “The owner? Yeah, she was at the merry-go-round.”

“Thanks-” Jeff said but tilted his head at the guy’s smirk. “What?”

“Nice make-up dude.” He said before passing Jeff.

It felt odd for humans to just interact with Jeff without being fearful, it wasn’t bad, just weird. But Jeff looked around and found the merry-go-round and ran over to it, as he slowed down he could see that new people were getting on but did not see the pink haired girl. Instead he got up on a bench and looked around the area, but a voice caught his attention.

“Having fun guys?” A singsong voice cackled.

That laugh, that fucking laugh! Jeff turned to the sound and saw a person with pink hair walking through the crowd, and although he couldn’t see her face he knew it was Cherry. He jumped down and ran after her, this time staying vigilant for others as he followed her. Suddenly she began sprinting and stopped at the steps of a large fun house, the front had a clown face..LJ’s face to be exact, with glowing eyes and sharp teeth on the top of the entrance, a pale face and the same makeup design. 

She stepped in and Jeff quickly got onto the steps and followed her in, instantly caught off guard by a stream of smoke blocking his vision with an automated laugh. He crossed the smoke and looked around the neon room with twisting walls and the floor that would change from plushy to unstable. Jeff walked through, watching his step and checking corners for the pink-haired girl. He continued to follow what traces he could see of her hair until he reached a room of mirrors and grumbled. “Fucking hell..uh Cherry? Hello?”

“My my~ who’s looking for me?” The voice giggled out. “Perhaps a stalker? Maybe a punk? Or just another fan?”

“None..” Jeff called back, looking at his reflection through the mirrors as he tried to find a path. “I’m a friend of Laila. I’m a Creepypasta.”

“Oh? Then where is she?” The voice teased.

“Looking for Nash..he ran off looking for Aya.” Jeff replied, stopping at a dead end. “Look I can’t play ok? This is important.”

“Is that so?” She sounded skeptical this time. “Take the door on your left.”

Jeff looked at the mirror on his left and lightly pushed it open, and following a dimly lit hall and closed the door behind him. After walking for a bit and going up a set of stairs he was surprised to see the room was nothing but one-way glass for the floor to see everyone walking around. In the center a girl sat with her leg crossed over the other and a microphone in her hand. A hand moved out and she pulled out a controller and pressed a button, the whole room lighting up with white LED light strips.

Now he could see her completely, her pale white skin, her long hot pink hair was a wavy waterfall down her back. She wore a dress that was striped black and white on the top portion and puffy white sleeves, while the skirt was red and black stripes, and fingerless gloves that reached to her forearms with her right arm having black and white and her left arm having red and black. Her leggings were also the same with the black and white striped legging on her right leg and the right leg having red and black, alternating her colors. Her boots however were just black with white laces. On her cheeks there was a painted red tear drop on her right cheek and her lips painted black. She was a teen as well, very lanky and tall being about 6 foot thanks to the boots.

Cherry’s rain cloud grey eyes gazed over Jeff, her smirk vanishing as she stood up from the chair. “P..papa?”

Oh fuck right, this was one of his kids. Jeff gave a shy smile and said. “Yeah um..long story but-oof!”

She charged right at him and wrapped her long arms around his waist, she placed her head on his shoulder and he nervously hugged back. “Papa! I’ve missed you so much..”

“Hey kiddo..” Jeff said, just letting her hug him as she buried her face into his shoulder.

A couple minutes passed, only thing to be heard was the cheers of joy outside, but before long Jeff pulled from the hug and held her shoulders. She looked at him, eye glittering with tears, but smiled at him and revealed her sharp teeth. Cherry was definitely LJ’s kid..

“Cherry, I’m from the past, I’ve come to find the person that made this mess.” Jeff explained carefully. “The person that took the CP’s away, and made you guys all on your own.”

The girl clown’s eyes widened with understanding and let out a giggle. “I can’t..I can’t believe it..is dad here too?”

“Unfortunately only me.” Jeff replied, but her smile didn’t falter.

“But this is more than I could ask for..” Cherry sniffed and took out a red handkerchief, dabbing it near her eyes to soak the tears. “So, where are the others?”

“We got separated, think we can find them?” Jeff asked, getting a smug grin from her.

“I know every inch of this park, of course we can find them! Follow me!” Cherry cackled as she ran down the stairs.

He smirked and ran behind her, the two running through the crowd and he was shocked to see how others parted for Cherry. Everyone cheered her name and moved for her, some playfully bowing or calling her the Queen. It was impressive to see how popular she was with the humans. She started twirling playfully as she laughed and back flipped a couple times, landing on a bench and looking around the crowd. Jeff watched in amazement as she took a nearby mic from a vendor and said into the mic.

“Excuse me, my dear Creepy fans~! I need my trusted friends to come meet me at the base, Roxie, Laila, Nash, Talon, and Aya~!” She finished and hopped off the bench, handing the mic back and walking to Jeff. “Come on, we have to get to my home.”

Jeff nodded and let Cherry take his hand, this time the two walked together and Cherry giggled as people greeted her. “Hello~!”

“Queen Cherry!”

“Hi miss Cherry!”

“Why do they call you Queen and miss?” Jeff asked, tilting his head as she looked at him.

“Well, I make them call me that because it gives me a sense of control~” Cherry smiled. “And when I moved here I killed the owner and called this place my own.”

“Does anyone know?”

“Oh please~ papa you taught me if I was to make people disappear that I had to make sure to be stealthy.” Cherry said in-matter-of-fact and then giggled. “I’ve been running this place and won every game~ So I like being called Queen Cherry.”

“Got it..dear god you’re a sadist..” Jeff huffed lightly, but couldn’t help the smirk crossing his lips.

“Who’s calling the kettle black~?” Cherry teased, pointing a long pale finger at him.

They arrived at a vintage Victorian house near the entrance. The house was well put together and painted with red and white, and the lights on inside. Cherry knocked on the door and it opened with Laila on the other side, smiling at them. “Cherry!”

“Laila!” Cherry squealed, hugging her and picking her up in the process, twirling with her as the two giggled. “Oh my you’ve grown so beautifully!”

“I could say the same for you! And you got stronger!” Laila wheezed out with a smile.

Cherry set her down and the three walked to the living room where everyone was gathered, Talon eating some popcorn and Nash eating a candied apple. There were a couple red velvet couches, one that the boys sat on and on another two girls sat. Jeff got to look at them and could instantly tell who was who. Firstly, Aya’s white hair curled around her face in a pixie cut, her golden yellow eyes large and calculating with black mascara making her eyes pop more. She wore a long white winter coat that reached to her thighs and black leggings with white boots that went mid-calf. She was younger and certainly smaller, being at 5 foot 1, and in her hand was a soda bottle.

Roxie was smiling at them, her silky neon blue hair tied back with a red ribbon, and her ruby colored eyes watching with excitement. Her dress was an old 50’s style plaid dress of blue and black with black lace on the shoulders, and a black ribbon tied around her waist. She had blue leggings on with black van’s shoes, and red gloves holding golden scissors in her hands. She was probably only 4 foot 9, being just about as old as Talon. The girls screamed in delight as they got up and ran to Jeff, and he nearly fell over as they hugged around his waist. 

“Uncle Jeff!”

“Jeff~!”

“Whoa, ok, I need some introduction before we get down to business!” Jeff said, holding his hands up.

“Oh right~ I’ll go first~” Roxie purred, with a very broad British accent. “My name is Roxie Pop! My parents were Candypop and Jason the toymaker~ I enjoy making dolls and collecting vintage things, and I am 14 years old.”

“And I am Aya.” Aya introduced herself with a very melodic voice, backing away and bowing to him. “I am Sadie and Kagekao’s daughter, of 12 years age. I am half phantom so my interests and powers are all with my studies of magic. Oh, thank you again Laila, I love the book~”

“I figured you could do more with it than I can.” Laila smiled and nodded her head. “Are we good to chat?”

“Yes, come sit.” Cherry motioned for everyone to have a seat. “I’m very surprised by the visit.”

“I think we all are.” Roxie giggled as she looked to Jeff, who sat across from them. “Laila was just telling us about how you came from the past.”

“Yeah, I’m here to hunt down the person that caused you guys to lose..well your parents. The whole CP civilization.” Jeff elaborated. “And I need help with a couple things.”

“I’m sure we can assist you. For a price~” Cherry giggled, crossing her legs.

“Of course there’s a price..” Talon mumbled, crossing his arms.

“Talon be nice.” Laila warned and looked to Cherry with an apologetic smile. “Sorry-”

“No no it’s ok. My price is simple, we want in~” Cherry replied.

“Huh? You guys want to join?” Nash asked, tilting his head, still chewing on the caramel apple piece.

“Absolutely! After Laila told us about you hunting this dickhole, of course we want in!” Aya agreed, smiling at Talon. “Besides, even if we’ve had a rough goodbye it doesn’t mean we can’t have a new beginning.”

Talon looked hesitant about this but nodded for the sake of the team. “alright..So, I think we should start with the stones.”

“Right.” Jeff nodded, setting the stones out on the glass coffee table in the center. “We think these have magic in them.”

Aya tilted her head and picked them up, her eyes narrowing slightly and a golden glow covered her hands. She muttered softly to herself before setting down the sphalerite. “Well, this gem is cursed. This kind of stone was dug up years ago for the wealthy and all, but there were limited amounts and it was hard to find a “real” one. It’s not a strong gem, but this has been inflicted with a puppet spell, whatever it’s attached to is at the command of its owner. What did you get this piece from?”

“Nash smashed it from a medieval knight looking guy, after he broke the gem it shattered and the knight just vanished.” Jeff answered.

“That makes sense. This kind of magic is a mix of candle magic or ritual magic, and imitation magic. Someone could burn an orange candle or do a ritual when they want to use a gem and activate imitation magic to manipulate a piece of armor.” Aya explained, patting down her coat.

“Oh fuck no, I already delt with one voodoo bitch I don’t need another.” Jeff groaned.

“It’s not exactly voodoo, the imitation part yes, but unless a candle is lit or the ritual takes place the power cannot be used. Gems and rocks are great catalysts for spells, but rituals call upon the power source while candles are made with the power source.” Aya continued.

“I’m confused..” Nash mumbled, looking at everyone for someone to explain it further.

“Basically, if the person were using..souls, the candle would have to be mixed with a soul and lit in order to use the magic to make the armor move. Or a ritual has to be done.” Talon said to Nash, getting a small nod back.

“And the red stone?” Laila asked, leaning forward on the couch.

“Garnet, it also has magic ritual or candle.” Aya replied, setting the garnet back on the table.

“Why candle magic?” Cherry asked, blinking with curious eyes. “I don’t know much about magic but using candles sounds weird.”

“Actually it makes sense..” Roxie commented. “Candles, medieval armor, Nash said you guys were attacked by a dragon. I think you have an old soul after you, candle magic must be something this person has practiced before.”

“But even then, they would have to conduct special rituals to stay alive this long, and most magics require trade to live a long time.” Aya said, closing her eyes. “And with that candle magic is about making the wax with whatever you’re sacrificing like souls, a lock of hair, blood. Candle magic is dependent on the sacrifice and what color the candle is.”

“What does orange mean?” Talon asked, his blue eyes analyzing her.

She opened her eyes and said softly. “All colors have two meanings. Orange, in a positive light, is energy, youthfulness, and health. In a negative way, untrustworthy and deceitfulness. The person doing this is not only old or knowledgeable in magic, but is also looking to gain.”

“Oh just wonderful..” Jeff sighed into his hand, moving his hand away and asking. “Can you track them?”

“No, the magic type doesn’t leave a trail, this person is a genius as well.” Aya shook her head.

“Then what can we do?” Nash asked out. “We don’t even know where to look!”

“That leads to our second concern.” Laila added, looking at Cherry. “Do you know where your brother is?”

Cherry's eyes flickered with both surprise and sympathy, but stood up and went to a desk that was flooded with mail. “Yeah, his most recent letter should be here somewhere.”

“Cherry just bring them all over!” Roxie said. “He’s been all over the world, perhaps we can figure out where he will be next!”

For being so young, Roxie already sounded like an adult woman, it threw Jeff off greatly. But as they waited, Jeff looked around the walls to see them covered in pictures. Deciding to get a closer look Jeff stood up while Laila and the others talked. The pictures were mostly of the girls and them running their carnival together, but a couple were of a younger Cherry and a boy next to her. He didn’t get a good enough look before he heard cluttering behind him and saw a pile of letters.

Jeff took his spot back as Cherry pushed the letters out, many were postcards from places like New York, London, France, and many other popular places. “Wow, he’s really been everywhere.” 

“Yep, Malik has been traveling and looking for the same person as you. He’s told us in his letters about certain things he’s found as clues but still said he hasn’t found the person.” Cherry says and looks through the postcards. 

“Also he’s apparently made a friend!” Roxie adds, taking out the postcard that had the words Ireland written in white. “While in Ireland he met another CP and said she’s a beautiful creature.”

“The 11th CP.” Laila smiles. “Who is she?”

“She’s more of a what.” Roxie shrugs. “He said it’s hard to describe her.”

“The most recent letter was from Alaska, he says he’s made a horrible mistake not bringing a second coat.” Cherry giggled.

“Well is there a way to contact him? To get him back here?” Talon asked as he looked to Cherry.

“Not unless you can fly or teleport. Malik just sends messages, he never stays in one place long enough for us to send something to him.” the pink haired girl replied.

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind Cherry, could we stay here a couple days?” Laila asked politely. 

“Of course! There’s plenty of rooms here, this house was made to hold lots of guests.” Cherry giggled and opened her arms wide. “Take whatever room you’d like that isn’t occupied.”

Nash hopped up and tugged at Roxie’s arm. “Come on Roxie! You promised to give me something!”

“That’s right~ I got you a new toy.” Roxie giggled and got up. “It’s just in my room. Come along.”

“Laila, could you help me with this book? Just answering general questions.” Aya asked and stood up, holding the book.

“Sure, are we going to your room then?” Laila asked as she walked with Aya upstairs.

Jeff wasn’t sure what to do, and was surprised to see Cherry walk to Talon and said quietly. “I know you don’t particularly like me-”

“No, I like you, you’re just a pain in the ass!” Talon hissed. “You don’t take anything seriously!”

“If I took everything seriously I would be a stiff like you, you need to loosen up! What happened to the troublemaker of the under realm, huh? You used to pull all kinds of pranks.” Cherry teased him.

“That was when we had a home.” Talon huffed, glaring at her as he got up from his couch.

She cackled and stood up, grabbing his arm before he could walk off. “Come on Talon! Remember that prank of setting off firecrackers in the castle's soul cellar?”

“Yeah, and I wound up being grounded.” Talon snarled, yanking his arm away and going upstairs.

Cherry sighed and ruffled her hair a bit before turning to Jeff and letting out a puff of air. “So, wanna go killing?”

“What is Talon’s issue? He seems to hate everything fun, and has major trust issues.” Jeff said as he got up from the couch.

“I really don’t know. One day he was having lots of fun, making jokes, and then the next time he visited he was quiet.” Cherry shrugged, then brushed her hair with her fingers. “We all thought maybe Zalgo hurt him, but he had no physical marks..”

“Strange..well, how about we go then? I assume you like killing just as much as I do.” Jeff smirked at her.

She grinned, showing her sharp teeth. “I love it. I follow more along the lines of, tempt people my way in order to kill them.”

“You lead then, I’m happy with just carving.” Jeff shrugged. “It’s your killing territory.”

“Actually..papa, how about you show me how you do it?” Cherry’s voice softly asked, her eyes hopeful. Fuck she had LJ’s puppy dog eyes too!

“Why not? let’s get to killing, it’s going to be an awesome night.” Jeff playfully nudged her and she giggled, running ahead to the door.

“You don’t mind me calling you papa right?” Cherry asked as she got to the door, her hand on the handle but she looked conflicted.

“Um..only call me that if the others are out ok? Back in my time, Laila wasn't even born and this is still a lot for me to process.” Jeff answered, rubbing the back of his head.

“Ok, I can live with that.” Cherry smiled, opening the door and walking out. 

“Oh, I also meant to ask, how come no one suspects the killings?” Jeff questioned. “I mean you have human workers.”

“It’s thanks to Aya, she performs a magic spell that keeps people happy, and when they leave they forget everything that happened while they were here. So they keep coming back and spending more time here.” Cherry giggled.

“Holy fuck, that’s really smart!” Jeff complimented, walking with her.

“It was Roxie’s idea. When we arrived here she was 12, I was 14, and Aya was 10. Aya had already been learning magic so this place was a great testing ground. And Roxie wanted more dolls so it worked out for her too.” Cherry explained. “Malik and I are 16 now, but when he was 14 and left there was something strange about him, he was kind of quiet but then again he was always more like you.”

“That’s another thing, are you both..completely human?” Jeff asked carefully. “I mean, LJ is..”

“Well, I’m mostly human, give or take with dad’s sharp teeth.” Cherry smiled. “Malik’s left hand however has claws, and I have more of dad’s skill and personality.”

“That seems about right..” Jeff mumbled. “Ok I’m done, let’s just get killing before I ask something stupid.”

She giggled and sprinted ahead, her cherry hair swaying around before she greeted some people. If Cherry was this way, Jeff was even more eager to meet Malik if the boy was supposed to be like him. A smirk crossed his face as he followed her, the two wandering through the crowd as Cherry stopped a couple times due to people saying hi to her. The lights and games were definitely eye-catching, and seeing a balloon stand Jeff stopped and looked at the prizes on the walls. They were Creepypasta plushies!

“Hey Cherry, what’s with these dolls?” Jeff asked, pointing to the very accurate plushies.

“Oh! Roxie makes these, it’s our attempt to make people remember us!” Cherry giggled. “Do you want to win one?”

“Do I have to pay?” Jeff teased but Cherry handed him three darts.

“I own this place papa, give it your best shot.” Cherry replied, looking ahead.

Jeff lifted the first dart, throwing it hard on the highest score balloon, the following two hitting the second highest scores. The vendor was very impressed and asked Jeff what plush he wanted, which then became an internal conflict. But after a minute he pointed to a plushie of Lulu, he was honestly surprised there was even a plushie of her. Cherry tilted her head in confusion and asked. “Why Lulu?”

“I think someone needs this.” Jeff shrugged and took the plush as it was handed to him.

Cherry giggled and took the doll from him, jumping up and stuffing it in Jeff’s hood. “There! she can ride along with you!”

Jeff smirked and shoved her before taking off, hearing her laugh as she chased him. The two continued their chase until Jeff stopped, grabbing onto Cherry’s arm as she tried to push him. The sudden quietness and serious expression on his face made her stop giggling and followed his gaze to see two guys ahead. They were stumbling around, clearly drunk from one of the many small restaurants in the park, and one kicked over a trash can. They were just babbling nonsense and laughing for no reason.

Jeff looked to Cherry but didn’t say anything, already seeing a crazed rage and excitement fill her cloudy grey eyes. The grin returned to his face as he asked. “I’ll take the blonde and you take the redhead?”

“Sounds good~ but first let’s lure them into the bathrooms.” Cherry agreed, walking to the men. “Oh boys~!”

The redhead barely turned to face her before she lifted her right let and kicked him in the gut, knocking him onto the ground and laughing. The blonde made a move to punch her but Jeff ran in and caught his wrist, twisting it behind the man and started leading him to the bathrooms. “Now let’s not get ugly.”

“You little slut-” The redhead growled, getting up and trying to grab Cherry, but she back flipped, knocking her foot into his jaw and making him bite his lip. He groaned in pain as he held his bleeding mouth, but Cherry feigned her kindness and took his arm to lead him to the bathrooms.

“Oh dear me sir, let’s get you cleaned up~!”

The two killers were enjoying themselves greatly, Cherry drowning the man’s head in the toilet while Jeff had cut a large gash through the blondes neck and let him bleed out in the sink. He used the mirror to take the time to carve a smile into the man while Cherry giggled maniacally and started cutting off the man’s hair with a small knife. “I think Roxie will like this hair~”

Jeff chuckled a bit, letting the man drop to the floor as he finished and Cherry stepped out with the man’s hoodie holding the red hair in the middle. He couldn’t believe it, he has kids in the future, and his daughter was kick-ass! Jeff walked with her as they headed back, still curious about what his son would be like.


	6. Cerberus’s Blood

The two arrived back to see Roxie and Talon cooking in the kitchen while Nash and Roxie sang along to the music in the room. Aya and Laila sitting in the other room and looking over the book, not even noticing Jeff and Cherry’s arrival. Nash bounced on the stool as he sang, holding two plush dolls of Toby and Clockwork. Cherry ran over, setting the coat with the red hair on the table as she joined in.

“I throw my hands up in the air sometimes-”

“Saying ayeoh, gotta let go!” Cherry joined in with them, making them burst out with giggles as Roxie continued.

“I wanna celebrate and live my life-”

“Saying ay-oh, baby let's go!” Nash and Cherry sang together, Cherry wrapping her arms around Nash.

Talon looked like he was ready to kill someone with the spatula in his hand, but his foot was tapping on the floor. Jeff walked closer and asked. “What are you kids making?”

“Oh! Nash said he wanted breakfast for lunch so we’re making chocolate chip pancakes with sausage on the side!” Roxie answered, leaving the music going on her phone to let Cherry and Nash sing.

“Right, Mind if I borrow Talon?” Jeff asked, getting a bewildered look from the teen boy.

“I’ll take over for him~” Cherry replied, shoving Talon out of the kitchen. “Go on!”

Talon looked very confused before looking at Jeff and following him to the hall that connects from behind the stairs. A closet was next to them and Jeff stepped into it, turning on the light and signalling Talon to come in. He hesitated but soon entered the closet and looked to the pale legend. “What is it Jeff?”

“Well first off..nice look. The girls get you new clothes?” Jeff asked, motioning his hand to Talon’s form.

Switching from the dull shirt and pants, he was now wearing a ripped up black tank top with red claw marks on the front and a navy blue sweater, his pants were dark blue with small rips in them. Around his head was also a black beanie now that his blonde hair stuck out of around the rim. “Yeah, Roxie said I was too boring with just a plain shirt and pants.”

“She wasn’t wrong..but anyways I got you something.” Jeff said, lifting a hand over his head and taking the Lulu plush doll out from his hood. “Thought you’d like it.”

Talon’s blue eyes widened in surprise as he took the doll. “This..is for me?”

“Yeah, I saw it and thought you would want it.” Jeff shrugged, but frowned seeing Talon’s eyes clouded with sadness.

“I’m too old for dolls..” Talon replied softly, but refused to let go of the plush, gently rubbing his thumb on the cheek of the plush doll’s face.

“Kid, you’re not too old to have fun.” Jeff said, gaining Talon’s attention. “Come on, just..tell me why you’re so down all the time.”

Talon looked conflicted, scared even. His mouth opened and closed a couple times, unsure what to say until he finally replied quietly. “I have to grow up..others depend on me.”

Jeff didn’t rush this but damn he hated waiting, Jeff thankfully didn’t have to wait too long before Talon spoke slowly. “I..there’s someone I...admire, and I don’t want to let them down.”

“If they don’t like you for being you then how could you admire them?” Jeff tilted his head.

“it..I made a promise..” Talon’s hands shook. “And I can’t..”

“Talon..” Jeff sighed. “Is this person Laila?”

His eyes snapped up with shock. “How did you-”

“It’s pretty obvious.” Jeff pointed out. “Your loyalty, your concern for her. Now your bullshit excuse for growing up, yeah it’s pretty clear who you’re talking about.”

A faint blush crossed his cheeks as Jeff finished his explanation, his blue eyes darting back to the doll. “S-she’s 4 years older than me..I’ve liked her for a long time but..I have to be more mature for her..I promised her I would be more mature.”

“Did she ask you to be mature? Or did you just promise yourself?” Jeff asked, seeing the visible jolt from Talon. “Do you think she honestly wants you to change just because you like her?”

“She..doesn’t know..” Talon mumbled, making Jeff click his tongue in annoyance.

“Damn drama inducing-Look, let’s get something straight. Don’t act all stoic and shit, because that won’t charm her.” Jeff stated, poking Talon’s forehead. “If she’s anything like her mom and dad then she will want someone honest and fun.”

Talon seemed to be absorbing everything but the blank stare was convincing Jeff otherwise. Jeff only huffed before leaving the closet to see the girls, joining them in the living room. “Hey girls.”

“Oh hello Jeff.” Laila smiled, turning her head up to lock eyes. “We were just going through some spells.”

“Nice, hey Aya, since you’re part phantom does that give you an advantage?” Jeff asked, looking at the pale girl.

“It gives me some attributes. I can pass through walls and I was meant to have magic. That’s why Laila is giving me this book, because she can’t use a lot of these spells and can’t perform magic.” Aya responded with a small smile, her gold eyes flashing with amusement.

“Wait, you can’t use magic?” Jeff looked to Laila, who blushed at the question. 

“Uh..no, I could do some spells that only require mental power but can’t do actual magic. I have a human body unless it’s a spell that originates using my brain or body.” Laila giggled softly, playing with her necklace.

“I was just looking through it again, but there’s nothing here that can help get Malik to come back.” Aya continued on.

“Lunch time everyone!” Roxie yelled out as Cherry and Nash set the table.

“Here, let’s continue this talk at the table.” Jeff said, walking to the table and claiming one of the empty chairs.

Everyone got to the table and passed around the pancakes and sausage, Laila having to stop Cherry from taking more than five pancakes, fearing for the younger girls heart. After everyone was situated with their food Jeff commented. “Ok, so we can’t get Malik in on this, what should we do instead?”

“Well? What about finding Viper?” Aya asked, using her magic to lift some syrup, the bottle itself covered in a golden yellow glow. “Didn’t he separate a while ago as well? Maybe he knows something.”

“Viper was more interested in the specters rather than the person that killed off the CP’s, but none of us knows where he is.” Laila shrugged, but her eyes darkened with seriousness. “If we had him on the team we definitely would have an advantage to fight against those things.”

“He’s that good?” Jeff asked, looking at Laila, but Talon answered instead.

“Because Viper is a proxy. He’s stealthy, knows how to use a gun, and can teleport short distances. He’s a great fighter, so having him help with the specters would be great..but he can’t work well with others.”

“That’s a lot coming from you.” Roxie giggled. “But he has a point, even if we find Viper there’s no guarantee he’ll help us.”

“No..he will help.” Jeff replied. “Think about it, a proxies pride will make him fight with us. I’ve seen Hoodie, Masky, and Toby’s job first hand. They’ll do anything for the Creepypastas and they’ll do anything to finish a mission.”

Nash was the first to speak after Jeff’s speech. “We should find him! Since there’s more of us now we should get Viper back!”

“Hold on Nash, maybe we don’t have to find him.” Cherry commented. “Viper is just as elusive as Malik so it’ll be near to impossible, maybe what we need is Edan.”

“Edan? Sorry Cherry, but Edan hates Viper now and he’s completely ignoring reality.” Laila frowned. “When he left, he said he was going to live as a human, that CP’s have no place here anymore.”

“Why do you think we should find Edan anyways?” Roxie asked, raising a brow at Cherry. 

“Because Edan is a surgeon. Even if we do have to fight those specters it’s nice to know someone can heal us up. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gotten more tech savvy.” Cherry replied, her smile not faltering. 

Jeff’s rubbed his temples, the choices were there but he didn’t know what would be the best. If only there was some way to get all three of them on the CP’s side..maybe.. “Hey, why not choose all three?”

Everyone looked to Jeff in confusion, Talon speaking up first. “How would that work?”

“Simple..Malik will have to be last of course, but if we send Lorien out to find him or find a spell to track him then he will come back to help. As for Edan and Viper, you told me they were once dating right?”

“Yeah? But Viper broke things off and Edan turned his back on the CP’s.” Laila replied. “What are you getting at Jeff?”

“It’s just like how EJ and Ben used to be.” Jeff explained. “Those two were always apart and alone at first, and even when they did get together it was bumpy with criticism. But they knew not to jeopardize anyone for any personal reasons.”

“So, you’re saying that we need to give them a shove?” Roxie grinned, waving her fork playfully..

“No, I’m saying that if they care about you guys and their family they’ll work it out. It might take some time but I think if we get everyone together then they can either get back together or at least make them friends again.” Jeff finished. “What do you think?”

Talon shook his head. “Even if they were to tolerate each other we don’t know if they’ll work together. It risks the whole group if they can’t get along.”

“But there is a chance..” Laila smiled, looking at Jeff with confidence. “Jeff is right. And we all know that Edan and Viper would never do anything to get any of us hurt. And they are both reasonable enough to understand the situation we’re all in, the hardest part of this will be pulling the two into the same room.”

“If that’s so, I guess we’ll try it.” Cherry replied and began to eat. “Any idea where to find them?”

“I do!” Nash raised a hand. “Edan loves music! He must be in a nightclub or music store!”

“Ok good, and for Viper?” Jeff questioned.

“He’s a proxy, and he’s alone. Knowing him, he probably is hiding out in an apartment or abandoned area.” Aya shrugged as she ate.

The group ate peacefully, the kids cracking jokes at each other while Jeff tried to focus on what was going to happen next. After they ate, Jeff walked upstairs with Laila to get him a room, and she opened one of the doors that were vacant. “Here Jeff, you can use this one.”

“Not bad, feels similar to home.” Jeff sighed as he flopped back on the bed. “And thanks for backing me up downstairs.”

“I wasn’t just saying all that to get the others to agree with you Jeff.” Laila said, fiddling with her necklace. “I wasn’t lying, I really think we can fix things between Edan and Viper.”

“Then why do the others seem so worried?” Jeff asked, looking at her.

“because..Edan has Ben’s stubbornness…” Laila said slowly.

“Oh we’re fucked..” Jeff groaned. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“Well I didn’t want to shatter the confidence that you made in the group.” Laila admitted. “Both boys are equally stubborn but in different ways. Edan is stubborn when it comes to protecting himself, and Viper is stubborn when it comes to protecting the others. I feel like that is part of the reason he left Edan..something made him feel insecure.”

“I see..that will make things complicated but we’ll make it work.” Jeff replied as he sat up. “Another thing, you should probably talk to Talon?”

“Talon? Why?” Laila tilted her head a bit.

“I think he needs a pep talk is all.” Jeff shrugged. “You know, heart to heart stuff.”

She smiled and nodded. “Then I’ll go speak with him. You know Jeff, you really are a good leader.”

“Huh? What are you comparing me to?” Jeff scoffed, getting a giggle from her.

“I just mean, in comparison to me, you sound so sure and that brings others together.” Laila replied.

Jeff stood up and walked closer to Laila. “Laila, I’ve had to deal with this shit before, you haven’t. But if you show others you’re not sure then of course their confidence in their leader will be shaky. If you want to lead these kids then you have to be sure, even when you’re not.”

She stared at him with amazement as she listened. “but..I-”

“If you think then you doubt yourself, sometimes you have to just act and think later.” Jeff added. “I didn’t know a thing about Edan and Viper but thanks to you the others believe this plan will work.”

She slowly nodded and her eyes glittered with tears, making Jeff flinch for a second. “Fuck did that sound too preachy or some shit?”

“No, that was..thanks Jeff.” Laila wiped her tears, clearing her throat. “I’m gonna go say hi to Talon.”

“yeah..I’ll be here for a bit.” Jeff nodded, sitting back on the bed as Laila left.

A sigh left Jeff’s lips, he slept for a long time the night before, so why was he so exhausted? Staring up at the ceiling he thought, it must be the kids, he has no idea how he’s going to handle this in the future. Still..LJ and him with two kids? Sure he could imagine himself denying the idea, but now after meeting one of them it didn’t seem so bad. His heart actually fluttered a bit at the thought of training his own kids how to hunt humans, but was it him or LJ that brings it up first? At this point that shouldn’t be his concern. However he remembered Laila mentioning that Malik was after the person responsible for this mess and Viper is just hunting the specters. What if two different people were taking advantage of this? Is it only one person?

Off in the Carnival, Laila and Talon walked together to enjoy the eventful night, it was around 11pm now and the Carnival was still swinging with laughter and screams of joy. Talon held the doll of Lulu to his chest while Laila watched the lights and games with joy, but never joining in them. Talon opened his mouth but quickly closed it, tugging Laila’s sleeve a little. “Laila, why are we out here again?”

“Well it’s been a long time since we’ve been to some place so fun.” Laila smiled. “Also, I wanted to hang out with you.”

Talon’s face went red, making Laila giggle at his shyness. She took his free hand and continued to walk with him, adding on with her previous statement. “Talon you don’t need to be so shy.”

“Sorry!” Talon voice cracked a little, making him clear his throat and say quickly. “I-I mean I know I don’t need to be shy but..”

Laila slowed down, guiding them to a vacant bench with LED lights wrapped around it that glowed a yellow and red color. The two sat down, both out of the way of the human highway and at least in a somewhat more quiet area. It was just a sitting area that was a literal square of four benches and shrubs around them to seal away people running around. “Talon, is there something wrong? You’re acting a little..more tense than usual and it’s making me worried.”

“I’m fine, r-really..” Talon muttered out, glad that he was out of the crowd now. “But who could relax with all that’s happened in the last couple days?”

“That’s true..” Laila agreed. “It’s a lot, but I’m glad Jeff is here. Maybe we can go back to how things were, the CP’s together as a family..”

“This is our future Laila.” Talon sighed. “I don’t think anything will change..”

She rubbed a thumb on the back of his hand and gave a small smile. “Talon..I know you’re trying to put on this stoic act for the sake of Nash, but you need to relax a bit. Let us take some of the burden.”

“It’s you I’m worried about Laila. You’re always taking the heat on everything.” Talon grumbled, his hand clenching into a fist and the hand that held the doll gripped gently. “I don’t want you feeling like you’re the only one taking the blows, being the only..mature one.”

Laila was stunned by his words, understanding what he was talking about and she held the hand that was clenched on the bench. “Talon, as the eldest it’s my job..but you’re right I shouldn’t take everything on by myself. That was a stupid thing for me to do when I was younger and I won’t let it happen again. However, in trade for me stepping back I need you to stop pretending.”

Talon’s eyes found her, biting his lip to release some anxiety that was churning in his chest, he felt torn between wanting to cry or wanting to yell. Laila could see this, after knowing him all her life it was clear when he was upset or ashamed. She carefully wrapped her wings around him and hugged him close. “It’s ok Talon, I know you’re strong, but I liked it better when you made me laugh. At first I thought you were trying to be strong because you hit puberty and wanted to feel more like an adult, but I was wrong, wasn't I?”

“I just..I wanted to help..” Talon muttered into her shoulder, hiding his face from her.

“I know, I know..” Laila soothed, pecking the top of his head before removing the wings from around their bodies. “Do we have a deal? I won’t take on everything, so long as you act more like yourself.”

Talon looked up at her, only a single stray tear making its way down his cheek before nodding and quickly wiping it away. “Y-yeah. Deal.”

Laila smiled and rubbed his shoulders a bit. “How about we go find a game to play?”

Talon nodded, and for what felt like a millennia, he smiled. The small upward tilt of his lips made Laila beam with happiness and she stood up with him. They began to walk again but stopped when they heard a loud voice calling out their names.

“Laila! Talon! LA-LA! TALON!” 

“That’s Nash isn’t it?” Talon asked, looking around the crowd and yelling back. “Nash! Over by the benches!”

No less than a minute, the hyperactive boy slipped past the crowd and arrived in front of the two, panting for air. He was covered in prizes that were questionably won and was holding a bag of multicolored cotton candy. “You guys have to play ring toss for me! I can’t see over the counter!”

Laila giggled and smirked at Talon. “What do you think Talon?”

Getting a smile back, he replied. “I think I can win whatever prize Nash wants. But don’t forget that you can’t bring all that stuff with you Nash.”

“I know! Roxie said she can keep them for me.” Nash said then grabbed Talon’s hand. “Come on! There’s a large tiger stuffie I want!”

The three walked together, passing Cherry along the way and waving to her, which quickly resulted in Cherry joining them. Standing at the booth, Cherry and Talon decided to have a contest to see who could score the highest points, while Laila lifted Nash onto her shoulders to let him watch. It was peaceful enough, yet something told Laila to turn. She carefully set Nash down, informing him she would be right back before running off to the fence line. Her wings flapped gently, helping her lift her body over the fence as she began to run back to the tree line where Lorien would be hiding. 

“Lorien? Lorien, are you there?” Laila called out gently, hearing a low whimper as the demon lifted his head from his self-made ball. “Hey, you ok bud?”

Lorien nuzzled his head to her chest as she pet him, but a few seconds later his head shot up and growled into the night. The angel put on her guard, her wings opening wider as she clenched her hands into fists and stared out to where Lorien was looking. The demon slowly got onto the ends of its wings and the tail end helped hoist him up higher, very cautiously he began to crawl out from the tree line. The young CP flew up to see past the trees, but the dark made it hard to see anything, she flew closer to the carnival to get better lighting. 

“Laila!” Lorien shrieked, flying after her and making Laila turn.

“No boy, you should stay here. If the human’s see you there will be a massive panic.” Laila quickly said, but Lorien didn’t listen.

The demon flew ahead of her, charging towards the carnival ground but veering off to the right. Laila flew behind him and finally her eyes caught something shifting on the ground, the ground itself was moving. Lorien dove right into it, his wings beginning to dig into the dirt, the action startled whatever was under the ground and its body shot out of the ground with a loud ear piercing shriek. Laila gasped as the large figure burst from the dirt, and a familiar orange glow was emanating from it’s eight eyes. The body of this giant spider ranged around 14 feet wide and towered around 18 feet high, making Lorien look minuscule against it.

“Lorien! Grow to your full demon height!” Laila called out, and began looking for something to fight with.

Lorien let out a roar as he grew to his largest capacity of being 20 feet tall and his wings stretching out to be 35 feet long. Laila still remembered the day that she learned of Lorien’s growth patterns, when he was tiny he could grow to 10 feet with an average wingspan of 25 feet, her mother had explained that the more dreams he consumes or haunts the bigger he gets. The family never found out a way to allow him to shrink again, which is one of Laila’s concerns for when he gets too big. The spider hissed at Lorien, its legs stretching out a bit as it raised its front legs and showing it’s large orange fangs at the demon. 

Lorien wasn’t intimidated and charged at the spider, slamming his head into the spiders chest to try and flip it onto its back, but the black and grey tarantula-like spider only backed up and used its front legs to try and pin Lorien’s wing down to tear it. The demon easily lifted his wing up, flying over the spider while the orchid color tendril-tail wrapped around the spider's leg, pulling up and away from the body in attempt to drag the spider. Said spider hissed again and tried to pull Lorien closer to its body, but now both were at a stand-off point.

Laila was quick to find a long stick and quickly sharpened the end of it with her knife, flying back to the two as one was trying to reel its prey, and the other trying to drag the eight legged monster. Lorien saw Laila and finally used his strength to pull as hard as he could on the leg, making it snap from the tug and the spider let out a scream of pain. Laila took the chance and flew behind it, stabbing the spider in its head with the sharpened stick. The stick went through as an orange goo spilled out from the head, but the spider only jumped at Lorien, pinning the demon to the ground.

Lorien used his wings to try and keep the fangs away from his body, shaking as he did so under the spider's strength. Laila panicked and stabbed the stick deeper, trying to find the crystal on the body that would ultimately destroy the giant. Pulling the stick out she made a front for its head, stabbing one of the eyes and making it stumble off Lorien just enough for him to squirm out and lunge at the beast. Lorien’s impact made the spider topple backwards, seeing the jewel under the fangs of the spider. Taking the shot, the orchid teeth in Lorien’s mouth bit at the gem, crushing it, but the spider wasn’t going out without one attack.

It lashed its fangs on Lorien’s back, only one fang managing to pierce his skin with orchid and orange solution leaking from his back. It all happened in seconds and Lorien screamed in agony as he ripped himself away from the now still spider. Laila had gotten off the moment the spider was flipped, watching from above as the scene took place, she watched as the spider began to decay but flew straight to the weak demon. 

“Lorien! Are you ok buddy?!” Laila called out as Lorien collapsed onto the ground, keeping his face in the dirt as his wings went lax. 

He let out a whine as he lifted his gaze to look at her. “Safe?”

She landed next to him, falling to her knees as she pet him. “Yes buddy i’m safe..you’re a good guardian.”

Lorien let out a low purr in happiness at her response, relaxing under her hand. Laila examined the wound and mumbled. “We need to get Aya..I don't know how strong that spider venom is. Lorien, can you move?”

He lifted his head slowly, making an attempt to get up on the tip of his wings, he was shaky but got up and looked at her with worry. Laila smiled and pet him again, flying up to be at his level. “I’m ok budy..save up as much energy as possible and follow me, I’ll see if I can sneak you to the house.”

Although he was shaky and stumbled a lot, Lorien was able to follow her, the wound on his back still leaking with a mix of orange and purple. Laila stayed close to him, and at some point Lorien shrinked back to 10 feet so he was less noticeable from the carnival. As she saw the mansion in view Lorien began to move slower, making Laila worry and say softly. “Come on boy, just a bit farther and I swear I’ll get you pineapples, pears, peaches, whatever you want.”

As she flew, questions began to swirl in her head and she had to speak out loud to organize these thoughts. “I don’t understand..specters have always been disguised as people..and most recently shown as medieval knights and monsters..now they can mutate as earth creatures too?”

Lorien looked to her and let out a low grumble. “Magia?”

Over the years Laila had to learn different languages just to understand the occasional words that would come out of Lorien. “Maybe yeah..stronger magic..or maybe there’s some ofther factor involved.”

Lorien moved a bit faster to the house before collapsing behind it, Laila flinched at the loud thump as he fell over, the only thing between the house and him was the fence between. Laila pet his head and muttered to him. “If anyone comes by either play dead or pretend to be some animatronic attraction.”

Lorien let out a whine as Laila flew over the fence and ran inside, instantly going to the freezer and pulling out a bag of frozen veggies before running out again. Lorien saw the bag and moved onto his stomach, letting out a low growl from the pack being placed on the wound. “You try to relax buddy, no sleeping though.”

After running back into the house Laila began to call out for Aya in urgency, to which she was relieved to see Aya coming out of her room. “Laila? What’s going on?”

“Lorien and I were attacked by a specter, I think it poisoned Lorien.” Laila replied, out of breath and panic settling in. “I don’t know if it’s some form of magic poison though or normal spider venom.”

Aya’s eyes widened as she ran downstairs with Laila, but as they reached the bottom steps a rumble made both of them stagger and hold onto the railing. Both stood quietly, waiting for a second before another rumble shook the room, making the glass chandelier shake a bit. Aya leaned to Laila and whispered. “Did you already kill the specter?”

“Yeah..Lorien killed it..” Laila muttered in confusion before walking to the door and slowly opening it. Many people were still wandering the carnival, seemingly unaffected by the quakes.

Another rumble and suddenly people began screaming, running to the exit as the danger seemed to flood from the fair games. Aya walked over to Laila’s side and watched in bewilderment. “What the hell is going on?”

“Aya, go to Lorien and keep him safe, see what’s happening to him. I’ll go check it out.” Laila ordered, getting a nod from Aya. 

At this point Laila wasn’t concerned about the wave of people, opening her wings and flying over the flood of civilians. She could now see tents being lifted up and thrown around, and a large tail-oh fuck it’s a giant scorpion. Laila flew over the scorpion in a glide as she looked for its weak spot, but seeing nothing she knew it had to be under its stomach. She dived down, flying right under the beast and glad to see the jewel right on it’s stomach rather than under it’s deadly pincers. She narrowly escaped the scorpion’s pincers as she flew up higher to evade it. Laila began to dive down again to look for a weapon but a scream made her freeze up and she looked around. “Nash!?”

She didn’t even notice the tail swinging before knocking her back over the fence line and her body collided with the cold ground. Pain shot through her back and wings as rocks cut up around her sides and limps, when she did slow down she was flipped back onto her stomach. Her wings popped, her left wing searing with pain as she felt blood drip down her wings and soak into her feathers. Looking back to the carnival she could hear the specter’s loud screeches and the people’s screams as they flooded out the entrance and escaped into their cars. She forced herself up, but only made it onto her hands and knees before collapsing again, her vision hazed over before her body gave in to the sleep her brain demanded.


	7. Phantom Hour

Talon had handed Nash a candied apple and lightly jokes. “This is your last one ok? It’s already past midnight and Laila will be upset if you’re up later than 3am.”

“Ok.” Nash pouted but then smiled. “I’m glad to see you’re back Talon.”

The teen was confused for a second then realized what he meant, nodding a little. “Yeah..it’s been a while since I was like this huh?”

“Ever since Malik left.” Nash agreed and bit into his apple.

Talon smirked, ruffling his hair as he looked over to Cherry. “Hey Cherry, any idea where Laila could’ve gone?”

“No clue!” Cherry giggled, lifting up a carnival hammer and nailing it onto the button that shot up the weight straight into the bell. She lifted the hammer over her body, arching her back as she cheered to the sky. “WHOO! Bow down to your carnival queen!”

“Hey guys!” Roxie’s voice called out, walking to the group and waving her hand. Beside her was Jeff, who had his hands stuffed in his pockets.

“I see you all are having fun.” Jeff commented with a smile, lightly shoving Cherry to make her stumble.

Cherry giggled and rammed into Jeff with her full body, making him trip over his own feet but catch himself. “Yeah we’re having fun~ What are you two doing here?”

“Well Jeff was bored and I was going out to get more materials for my dolls anyways.” Roxie shrugged then nudged Cherry. “Thanks for the red hair by the way~”

“Welcome! So Jeff, loving the carnival?” Cherry asked, facing him and brushing her wild hair back.

“Well I never liked crowds.” Jeff replied. “But you girls have done a lot for this place. It’s well designed.”

“Aren’t you girls worried about it becoming too popular?” Talon questioned as he walked over. “I mean, what if people find out about the..missing cases?”

“Nonsense! Since everyone loses their memories as they leave there’s no alarm for anyone.” Roxie replies calmly.

“How come they lose their memories?” Nash asked. “I don’t want to forget this night!”

“Don’t worry Nash, it only works on humans.” Cherry smiled at him and explained out loud. “Aya has to be careful with her magic, she’s really powerful when she’s not using her magic to keep the memories out. The idea is there is a spell that resides in anyone that enters the park and when they leave, they cross a barrier that breaks the spell by the next 6 to 7 hours.”

“The way she powers the spell barrier is with food and sleep.” Roxie continues. “That’s why she’s at the house most of the time and will come out when she’s hungry. When she made the barrier she applied the spell into the fence, and to only dampen her magic rather than drain it her spell only works on humans. So animals, CP’s, even insects, it won’t affect them.”

“Remarkable.” Talon muttered out. “Aya has a lot more control from the last two years.”

“Control?” Jeff asked, looking over to Talon, but turned to Cherry as she replied for him.

“Aya used to have terrible control of her powers. She blasted a hole into the cave once and also caused several over growths for plants when we lived in the forest. She didn’t know how to let it out in small amounts, once arriving here she had all the magical freedom she could ever want.” 

“Got it..I don’t remember Kagekao or Sadie having powers though..” Jeff skeptically added. “Anyone have an explanation for that?”

“According to Viper..when we still were living in the mansion, CP’s are born very unpredictable. Like with Laila, the chances of her getting wings should have been low since Mara wasn’t born with them, and yet she has wings. Or like Viper, his parents didn’t have a genetic code to teleport, they got that from Slender and yet Viper can teleport.” Talon explained.

Nash felt the ground shift as the others talked, looking at the ground before tugging at Talon’s sleeve. “Talon?”

“So even if it’s not genetic, a CP kid could get magic or some CP enhancement.” Jeff concluded.

“Something like that.” Cherry shrugged. “Honestly it’s not worth getting into.”

“Talon?” Nash called out louder, now tugging harder as he felt another rumble.

“She’s right, mythical and supernatural stuff is just impossible to explain.” Roxie giggled.

Talon chuckled and commented. “It’s like in sci-fi movies, if they can’t explain something the answer is always quantum something.”

“Talon!” Nash shouted.

The others looked to Nash with confusion and Talon opened his mouth to speak, but the ground behind them broke and Jeff quickly grabbed a hold of Talon’s arm and yanked him forward. Nash screamed in panic and ran behind Roxie, the CP group looking at the ground in shock as a large scorpion emerged. It had large orange pincers with orange eyes, making Jeff hiss out. “It’s another specter.”

“B-but they’ve never taken the form of Arachnid before!” Talon called out, backing up a bit.

Cherry watched as people screamed and ran from the scorpion, but it seemed to only be focused on them. She glared at the monster while holding the hammer tightly in her hands. “Oh-ho, hell no! You are not coming here to ruin my carnival!” 

The scorpion screamed and its tail lashed forward, making them all jump back as the tip burrowed into the ground before pulling up again. Cherry felt sick and giggled softly. “..new plan, run!”

The group didn’t hesitate, parting off in different ways with the crowd as the scorpion let out a loud screech and ran after Roxie and Cherry. Talon, Nash, and Jeff were together as they ran past the stands and they could hear the destruction behind them. Nash only looked back but screamed as a pincer tore through one of the carnival stands, in response to the scream Talon lifted the boy into his arms and continued to run.

“Nash!?” Laila’s voice called out, making Talon and Jeff look back as the angel was then smacked away by the scorpion's tail.

“Laila!” Talon yelled out in fear, setting Nash down and ordering. “Nash, get to safety!”

“Talon hold it-” Jeff shouted out, but the boy was already running to the scorpion with malicious intentions. Without much thought he followed the kid, watching as he grabbed one of the broken tent poles and used it to hit away one of the pincers.

The scorpion lifted its tail again and shot it down to hit Talon but Jeff grabbed the back of his sweater and yanked him back in time for the tail to pull away from the near attack. Jeff ran back with Talon to avoid the pincers as he looked over the body for a weakness, growling to himself. “Fucking hell, Talon what do you know about scorpions?”

“What makes you think I know?!” Talon snapped. “I feel like i’m in, honey I shrunk the kids!”

“It's the belly I think!” Nash yelled out, still standing where he was left, wanting to help in some way.

“Boys! Over here!” Roxie’s voice called out, they turned their heads and ran over to her, Talon grabbing Nash’s hand along the way. 

The scorpion began to follow but shrieked as Roxie popped a road flare open and threw it right at the beasts head. The group hid behind a tent as Roxie explained. “Scorpions are great hunters but anything super bright will throw them off and make it hard for them to see.”

“Any idea what it’s weakness is?” Jeff asked, glancing around the tent to see the scorpion screaming and tearing down more stands to find them.

“Cherry is already going back to the house to grab something to immobilize it.” Roxie replied. “We just have to try and keep it from seeing her and she’ll bring it down.”

“I got it! The merry go round! It’s blinding with color and if we spin around on it the scorpion can’t focus enough to see us-” Nash shouted, and Roxie screamed as the tent that covered them was ripped from the ground.

Jeff took Roxie’s hand and the four ran again, this time Talon leading with Nash and running to the merry-go-round. Roxie pulled away from Jeff’s grasp as she started it up, grabbing onto one of the poles as it began to spin faster, Jeff quickly got onto one of the tigers while the boys got onto a carriage. As the machine hummed and the music played louder, they all tried to focus on the scorpion as it got closer. Surprisingly enough the scorpion stopped, its tail twitching with anticipation as it tried to calculate its next move. 

“It’s working!” Nash yelled out happily.

“For now!” Talon replied. “Until this thing gets an idea, we need to get Laila!”

“Talon, you and Roxie go look for Laila outside the park.” Jeff ordered. “Nash, you’ll stay with me.”

“What?!” Roxie shouted. “Nash is only a kid!”

“And he has that advantage here!” Jeff snarled. “Just do as I say, Nash come here!”

Nash quickly hopped out of the bench, which was not easy with the G-force being made. But Jeff quickly grabbed him, picking him up and tightly holding him to his chest as he jumped off the merry-go-round. Hitting the ground Jeff groaned from the injuries on his back, but held Nash as he rolled to ensure to keep the boy safe. The scorpion quickly saw them and roared, starting to move closer, but Jeff was fortunately already on his feet and taking off with Nash in his arms. Roxie and Talon saw their chance, the neon blue haired girl kicking the controls as they passed it again, thankfully hitting the lever and slowing them down. The two hopped off, Talon swerving on his feet a bit before shaking his head and running to the entrance with Roxie.

Jeff had let go of Nash quickly to let the boy run with him, Nash began looking around for something to fight with since his bat was still at the house. “Jeff! It just keeps knocking down everything! Where do you think the gem is?”

“Not sure, but if we go one anymore rides it’ll just tear them down! We need to slow it down.” Jeff called back, then smirked when he looked off to his right. “And I think I found it.”

They began running to the Spin-n-Spit, the tall ride with a circular top that would spin people to the point of dizziness or vomiting. Seeing it made Nash queasy but glanced back and ran faster, seeing the scorpion tearing the ferris wheel out of its way. Jeff hopped into the main tower and looked at the controls. “Nash this is your task, when the scorpion gets close and is confused, look under its body. The gem has to be underneath it somewhere.”

“I-i have to go under it?” Nash clarified nervously, his body twitching a bit. “But I can't run if it sees me!”

“Who says you’re running?” Jeff smirked as his eyes rested on another ride.

Meanwhile Talon and Roxie were carrying Laila as quickly as possible, with Roxie holding her legs and Talon holding her up by her pits. They had to arrange her so her wings were over Talon’s shoulders as they carried her. A low groan escaped her lips as they walked, Roxie looking at her with worry. “Will she be ok?”

“She’ll be alright, just a sprained wing and a bump on her head.” Talon replied, in an attempt to calm her and himself down. “We should get her to Aya.”

Roxie glanced over, seeing several carnival rides being pushed over as the large tail curled and twitched. “Oh man, Cherry is going to be so pissed..repairs are going to cost a fortune.”

“I think you guys can figure that out later, you can close the fair for a couple weeks.” Talon replied, not really interested in the carnival.

They quickly arrived at the house but saw Aya walking around to the back with a bag of frozen fruits. “Aya!”

She turned and her eyes widened. “Oh my god, did a specter poison her too?!”

“No, just smacked her to the ground.” Roxie replied. “What do you mean, too?”

“Lorien is sweating, he’s barely able to keep his eyes open..” Aya explained calmly. “Set her inside, I’ll look at her next.”

Talon nodded and helped get her inside and onto a couch, looking at Roxie. “Roxie, go find the others.”

“What about you?” Roxie asked, slowly moving to the door.

“I’ll stay and help Aya, now go.” Talon commanded and looked at Laila. “Don’t worry Laila, they’ll take it down..”

Cherry was quick to find Jeff, seeing the scorpion stopped by the spinning ride, she dragged a chainsaw along with her. The chainsaw was painted red with several candy stickers pasted onto the side, and bright blue writing on the side saying “babypop”. As she ran over she leaned over to catch her breath. “Jeff, what-what are you-doing?”

“Distracting the scorpion, Nash just left to get his ride.” Jeff smirked, watching the scorpion.

“His ride?” Cherry asked, but giggled as she saw the scorpion trying to grab at the ride.

In the distance Nash was definitely on his way, driving a green go-kart on the gravel trail and laughing to himself. “Killer Speed!”

Cherry cackled as she saw the boy drive right under the scorpion, Nash looked up for the gem Jeff spoke of and saw it on the lower half of the stomach. Driving around he waved to the two killers and stopped his kart right in front of them. “The gem is under its stomach!”

“Great..how are we supposed to get under there.” Jeff huffed.

“Same way Nash did~” Cherry winked and hopped onto the back of the kart, sitting on the tail end and pulling the cord on her chainsaw. “Let’s ride Nash!”

Jeff watched with a proud smirk as Nash drove the kart, but didn’t realize that the scorpion had lost its attention on the ride and gazed down at the small kids. The tail flexed and shot down, Nash barely had the time to swerve out of the way as the tail smashed into the ground. Its pincers began to move as the scorpion backed up to try and grab the kids, but Cherry only smirked and hit the pincers with her chainsaw. It wasn’t enough to break the exterior armor, but just enough to keep the pincers off.

The older killer began messing with the controls, trying to make the light more blinding but there wasn’t much he could do. He took this chance instead to run to a nearby destroyed tent and pick out some roman candle fireworks. “Ok now matches, matches..”

Cherry had swung again to keep the pincer away but it was too low and managed to knock the kart over, Cherry fell but let go of the button to turn the chainsaw off, and Nash was stuck in the kart as it stopped onto its side. Slowly he opened his eyes and gasped as the scorpion’s pincer carefully grabbed the kart, Nash quickly unbuckled his seat belt and dropped to the ground. The kart was crushed in an instant and Cherry ran over to Nash’s side, revving up the chainsaw as the pincer got close again. She stabbed into the pincer with the chainsaw at full speed and managed to crack the exoskeleton but the second pincer grabbed her from the side. She screamed as the pincer cut into her sides, letting go of the chainsaw to try and force the claw apart from her body.

As Nash was about to pick up the chainsaw, a large firework shot straight at the scorpion, blowing up right in front of its face and making it screech. Cherry was dropped from its pincer as Jeff came running over with a bag over his shoulder of fireworks and in his hand was a cherry bomb firework, he dropped the bag and lit the wick, waiting until the scorpion recovered before throwing it at the beasts line of sight and making it screech again as the firework exploded into a bunch of white crackles. Nash quickly dug through the bag with excitement, taking out a larger firework and taking the lighter out of Jeff’s hand. “Kaboom!”

Jeff let Nash take charge, seeing the pyromaniac handling the scorpion just fine. He kneeled down to look at Cherry, helping her turn onto her back as she held her sides that were bleeding. “Cherry, you alright?”

“I think my stomach and gallbladder swapped places..” Cherry joked but in a whine. “Did we get it?”

“No it’s on the defense, won’t give us a chance to get to its stomach.” Jeff grumbled. “What we need is something to catch it off guard.”

“Aya..” Cherry suddenly smirked, making Jeff look at her confused.

Nash was so busy launching firework after firework that he didn’t see a blob of white under the scorpion. Aya smirked as she saw the gem, levitating herself before touching the gem and it glowed a brighter yellow before shattering under her hand. The scorpion squealed and shrieked as it stumbled around, Aya quickly levitating out from under it as the monster fell over and began to vanish into ash. Nash held a roman candle in his head but shrugged and lit it anyways, laughing with joy as the balls of fire shot up into the sky. Aya didn’t miss a beat running over to Jeff and Cherry, frowning a bit. 

“Three injured..” Aya mumbled, kneeling down.

“Three? Who else is hurt?” Jeff questioned, turning his attention to Aya. “also what did you do to take that scorpion down?”

“I used my magic that’s normally blocked up for the barrier spell, it was enough to cause the gem to combust. As for who’s injured, Laila, Lorien, and now Cherry.” Aya answered. “Could you carry her? We need to get her back to the house.”

Jeff nodded, letting Aya go ahead and get Nash while he lifted Cherry into his arms. The pained groan that Cherry let out made Jeff freeze up, checking to make sure she was comfortable before walking. “Have you been injured before?”

“By a giant scorpion? No. By crazy people? Yep.” Cherry smiled at Jeff. “been shanked and punched.”

“Fucking god..” Jeff sighed, then looked around. “Sorry about your carnival.”

“It’s fine, we can just rebuild it. I’m just glad that fucking scorpion is dead..” Cherry muttered, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Hey, stay awake Cherry.” Jeff nudged her head with his, making her let out a giggle.

“I’m good..nice going with the fireworks..” Cherry complimented.

“yeah..I didn’t see the damn thing..I mean I didn’t know it stopped watching the ride.” Jeff admitted with guilt.

“It’s ok papa..” Cherry smiled and curled up to him more.

Arriving back at the house Roxie and Talon were with Laila in the living room, an ice pack was on Laila’s head and she was on her stomach with her wings banaged around her body. Talon looked up and hurried over, kneeling down to look at Nash’s condition. “Nash, are you hurt?”

“Not really.” The young boy smiled. “I shot fireworks at a scorpion!”

“He’s only got some bruises Talon, take it easy.” Aya replied and walked over to Laila. “How are you Laila?”

“Sprained wing, a nasty headache, and a few bruises. But otherwise I’m ok.” Laila groaned into the couch. “Please tell me your magic can fix this?”

“Well..maybe..” Aya muttered, glancing at the others. “We should find Edan. This is what we’ve been waiting for, a chance to get him on the team again.”

“And how do you think we’ll find him in our condition?” Cherry asked, holding her bleeding sides.

“With the tour bus one of the groups left.” Roxie smiled, pointing out the window. “Lorien will probably have to lay on top of it though or crouch in there.”

“Should we leave in the morning?” Jeff asked, looking out to the bus. It was large but no way Lorien could fit without squishing everyone.

“No, we need to leave now.” Aya said. “I don’t know if Lorien can fight the poison by himself, and with how Cherry is now we need a professional. Jeff, do you know how to drive?”

“Um..sort of?” Jeff shrugged. “I’ve never driven a bus.”

“Let me drive.” Talon volunteered. “You all get what you need, I’ll go start it up.”

Talon ran out right after he finished his sentence, Aya and Roxie going upstairs to gather their stuff and Jeff set Cherry on a different couch. Cherry looked over to Nash and waved him over. “Nash, could you be a doll and get my computer?”

“Sure!” Nash nodded, running upstairs.

Jeff looked at his girl in curiosity, she only smiled and replied. “I need to tell everyone on the website that the carnival will be closed for a while..I also need to lock everything up before we leave.”

“Got it.” Jeff nodded, crossing his arms. “This is bullshit..”

“Agreed.” Laila said, sitting up slowly. “Let’s just hope now that Edan will give us a hand.”

“Why wouldn’t he?” Jeff questioned, looking at Laila and helping her to her feet.

“Because-” Laila hissed out in pain. “He’s left the CP life behind..”

“I don’t think that’s true.” Cherry muttered softly. “Edan’s a cannibal and I don’t think that’s something easy to shake off. Plus, if he really quit then he would have to find a way to be human.”

“I know, but I mean in the sense that he wants nothing to do with us.” Laila sighed, taking slow steps to get outside, leaving Cherry and Jeff in the room.

Not more than seconds after Laila left, Nash bolted down the stairs with a laptop and handed it to Cherry. She smiled and positioned her back against the arm of the couch, placing the laptop on her legs as she began to type. “Thanks Nash, go on and help the others get ready to go. You can leave your toys here if you’d like.”

“Ok!” Nash said in excitement, racing back up the stairs in a blur, Jeff couldn’t help but smirk at the boys enthusiasm.

“He really is like Toby isn’t he?” Jeff commented, looking at Cherry.

Said clown girl was focused on the computer, but replied with a smile of her own. “He looks like his mother, but he truly is Toby's child.”

“Here, want to take the laptop with you?” He asked, walking over to pick it up but she only shooed his hand away.

“No no, just making the update then I’ll leave it here. I know Edan will have his laptop, TV, and games.” 

Jeff nodded, letting her continue while Roxie and Nash ran down with backpacks of supplies and carried them out to the bus. Talon had started the bus and he started working on getting Lorien on it, guiding the demon to lay on top of the bus carefully. The bus itself was 30 feet long so Lorien could lay on it, but had to wrap his wings around the side and curl his wing tendrils under it to avoid being thrown off later.

“Alright Lorien, just when we get to the city pretend to be an attraction.” Talon explained, getting a low grumble from the demon.

Looking back to the house, Talon saw the others coming out, Jeff carrying Cherry in his arms while the others ran to the bus and got on. Roxie giggled and looked around the bus with interest, grabbing a pole and spinning around it. “This bus one of the disco buses?”

“Sorry Roxie, it’s only a standard bus. The only thing incredible here is it actually has cozy seats you can sleep on.” Talon shrugged, getting into the driver's seat.

Aya climbed in after Jeff, instructing him to lay her down in the back and telling Laila to take one of the other long seats to lay on her stomach. Jeff did as he was told and moved away to let Aya patch Cherry up, taking a seat only a foot away from Cherry. As the doors closed, Nash and Roxie immediately hopped into a seat, and for some entertainment Talon put the radio on for some noise. Jeff decided to see how the others were, going to Laila first since she was now relaxed. “Hanging in there?”

“As well as I can.” Laila said, raising her head up from her arms before commenting. “I can’t believe what’s happening..The specters never attacked us before like this, and they were always disguised as people..why are they now hunting us?”

“We’ll find out later, for now you should rest up and let that wing heal. Your mom was always careful about her wings.” Jeff replied, holding onto one of the bus railings.

“I should’ve been more careful..I should’ve seen the tail.” Laila whimpered, but jumped a bit as Jeff patted her head.

“It’s how you learn kid. Just take it easy, you can’t beat yourself up about something like this.” Jeff replied before moving to the front of the bus to see Talon. The boy’s face was still with worry and determination as he drove to the main road. “You ok kid?”

“Y-yeah just..I hope we find Edan. and I hope the others will be ok..” Talon explained, only flicking his eyes to Jeff for a couple seconds.

“They’re CP’s.” Jeff pointed out. “You all are immortal so you’ll be fine. We all can heal better than most people.”

“That’s..” Talon began then sighed. “Right..we heal better, but we’re not immortal.”

“What? But when I became a CP-”

“When you became a CP the Council blessed you to be immortal. Our parents left us to decide what age we wanted to stop at.” Talon elaborated. “But since they’re gone..no one can turn us to real CP’s. We continue to age, but our CP blood allows us to still heal faster and have Killer Instinct.”

Jeff felt a frown tug at his lips, but that explained why Laila was 19, not just because of the year span, but because no one could change any of them to be immortal. “We’ll fix it.”

Talon didn’t reply, but an emotion flickered in his eyes that was unreadable. Jeff took his leave and sat next to Roxie and Nash, who were playing with some trick cards. “How are you two doing?”

“We’re ok, I was showing Nash some tricks. It’s just..hard to suddenly make a change..you know? Leaving home.” Roxie smiled, it was clear she was upset or at least unhappy with the sudden move from her home. 

“Yeah I can relate..” Jeff muttered honestly, then noticed Nash’s frown. “What’s wrong Nash?”

“I just..Jeff were you ever so scared?” Nash asked, looking at him as a mist of tears covered Nash’s green eyes. “I..I froze up, I did nothing as Cherry-”

“Nash that’s not true. You rode in on a fucking kart.” Jeff chuckled, ruffling the boy’s hair. “You were really brave, and it’s not like you’re the first CP to lock up. You’re just not used to this intense stuff yet.”

“So..there’s nothing I could’ve done differently?” Nash questioned, squirming away from Jeff’s rough hand.

“Not that I can think of kid. You did what you could in your time.” Jeff replied and stood up again. “You two rest up.”

“We will.” Roxie replied, going back to her cards and showing them to Nash.

Jeff walked over to Aya, who was now in her own seat and had leaned her head against the window. “How’s Cherry?”

“She’ll be ok, if we get to Edan then he can fix her up some more. I just did what I could and gave her a pill.” Aya mumbled, letting out a yawn. “Sorry-”

“No you’re good. You must be exhausted. I was told that you use your magic a lot.” Jeff replied.

“Yeah..hopefully the book can help me figure out how to save more energy.” Aya replied, looking at the large book on her lap. 

“Well not using it everyday might help.” Jeff smirked, getting Aya to smile back.

“yeah..I’m gonna nap Jeff.” Aya said, curling up more with the book in her arms as she closed her eyes.

“Night.” Jeff said softly before going to the back and kneeling down in front of Cherry. “Hey kiddo..”

Cherry gave a weak smile, her grey eyes were clouded but she was still able to tell who she was speaking too. “You know, you called me that a lot when I was a kid.”

“You still are a kid.” Jeff pointed out, brushing some of her pink hair back. “What did LJ use to call you?”

She let out a giggle, to which was cut off by a hiss but she smiled. “He used to call me..his babypop. He used to call Malik sweet-tart, and he liked calling you gumdrop.”

Note to self, break LJ’s nose before he can use that nickname in the future. Jeff thought before nodding. “Sounds like him. Making up candy-themed nicknames..get some rest Cherry. I’d like that psycho with the chainsaw back for emergencies.”

Cherry nodded and mumbled. “My chainsaw?”

“The others grabbed it, don’t worry.” Jeff assured her, standing up and moving to a seat of his own. He watched the city lights and cars pass by as Talon drove through the quiet streets. It was already around 3am, chances of them having too much trouble at this time were slim. And with their luck, hopefully it’ll stay quiet for one night.


	8. Neon Veins

By the time the sky began to change to a light purple, Talon had stopped the bus out in a parking lot and was sleeping in one of the chairs. Jeff was the only one awake at the moment, already too anxious to sleep. He felt worn out despite how a couple days ago he slept for more than ten hours, and had only woken up an hour ago because the bus stopped moving. Talon had informed Jeff that Edan’s club was the “Bloody Vinyl” which explained Jeff’s pull towards it before. According to a person Talon spoke to, the Bloody Vinyl is the most popular club in the city for being safe, having great music, and good food. Slowly Jeff got up and stretched, looking to the group of CP’s on the bus and walked to the front. The doors to the bus opened with a squeak, and he glanced back at the others when he heard a groan.

He carefully stepped out of the bus, gritting his teeth as he felt the chill air, and in response he flipped his hood up. It was probably 6 in the morning by now, but he wanted to find Edan before everyone’s condition got worse. It was a miracle that Cherry hadn't died of blood loss, and even more fortunate with Lorien’s demon blood still fighting off the poison. If the Blood Vinyl was so popular how come Edan wasn’t caught as inhuman? How did Edan become the owner of a club? He figured the same way Cherry took over the carnival, but Edan sounds like he was trying to be more human as he separated.

Only one way to find the answers he wanted. Jeff sighed as he walked across the street, only an occasional car passed with people heading to work at this time. Looking around he noticed the grocery store that Talon and Nash raided with him and remembered the club only being a few stores down. Jeff walked along the sidewalk, it was bare and no humans would be out at this time, especially if most would party all night. The large club came into view, the entrance unguarded and the door most likely locked. In the day it was simply a concrete building with no glass on the first floor to hold the music within the walls, the neon lights were off and the place was silent as the dead.

Jeff inspected the building for a second before noticing small windows, walking over to the closest one he gently tapped it and felt it move. He checked around him before taking his knife out and smashing the hilt into the frame, popping the window open and slowly crawling in. It was small, he only got stuck once as he slid in, putting his feet though first before sliding through and landing on the floor. The killer froze as his landing made a echoing thud in the room, the place was dark and looking back at the walls he could see identical windows that probably was used to allow air in. He carefully began to walk around, looking for a light switch as he took in his surroundings.

Tables with bar stools set up on top, the floor swept clean, booths of black leather and dark oak wood that was polished. It was hard to think that anyone was here the night before. Jeff stopped moving as he felt the floor drop a bit and his shoes touched something that was clearly not wood. As he knelt down to touch the floor he felt a smooth and cold surface, maybe the dance floor itself. A clack in the room caught his attention, flicking his head up and preparing his knife to throw but saw no one. There was another clack and then a flick as the main lights in the club flicked on. 

The whole floor was illuminated with bronze light and as Jeff looked up he could see how the room had been built. The ceiling was cut out to reveal the second floor of the building that was lined with closed doors of oak, and a staircase in the side of the room with black bar railings leading to the second floor. By the front entrance was a small counter, as if in an area to check in like at a restaurant, with a computer and a scanner next to it probably to check licenses. The dance room had booths, bar tables and stools, and in the center where he stood was the dance floor. Against the wall on Jeff’s left side was the DJ booth, still centered with the stage and speakers lining around it as a shield. Behind him was a bar that had a door that he imagined led to a kitchen area. 

“It’s past closing time.” A voice called.

Jeff’s attention turned up to the second floor, where anyone could see below if they wished. A person was above him, although with the lighting it blurred Jeff’s vision perfectly to see nothing but a body. The figure was leaning on black rails that lined the cut out of the second floor, slowly they moved to the stairs walking down them as he said with a blistering tone that made Jeff on edge.

“And I despise trespassers, especially ones that disguise themselves as faces I know.” 

“I’m only looking for help from Edan. His friends are here and two of them may be dying.” Jeff answered. “And I’m not disguised.”

The figure stopped on the final steps, but then walked into the light to where he was visible to Jeff. The boy in front of him was close to his age but only ranged around 5 foot tall, not counting the height that the kid’s boots added, and he looked very much like Ben. His light toned skin, his young boyish look, his left eye a black pit with a red eye that sustained no pupil. The right eye was covered by his medium caramel colored hair that side-swiped over it, and his mouth gaped a little, showing a row of sharp teeth. His right ear hidden just like his eye while his left ear showed pointed like Ben’s and had a ruby stud earring on the lobe.

He knew this was Edan, but he was surprised to see what the kid wore. Leather black boots with silver studs and black leather pants to match, and his shirt a cobalt blue tank top that had a crisscross cut on the back while the shirt hugged around his stomach. He looked like a raver, and Jeff was certain if he owned the club, he probably partakes in dancing as well. 

“Jeff?” His voice suddenly seemed feathery, almost called out in a whisper. “How could it..”

“I came from the past with this.” Jeff replied, showing him the diamond on the hilt of his knife. “Slender told me to find the person that fucked up your lives. The others are here and we need you back on the team.”

Edan looked conflicted, a mix of anguish and sadness reflected in his red orb. He stepped back a little before walking past Jeff to the bar. “There’s no point. The past is set. All there is to do is move forward.”

“Move forward?” Jeff questioned, following him. “You’re a CP, you should be fixing things with the others.”

“I just want to live my life.” Edan hissed out, glaring at Jeff. “Is that so hard to want? I don’t want to be a CP, everyone of your generation and older has died and it’s best to adapt with what we have now.”

Jeff thought for a second before softly saying. “You sound a lot like Eyeless Jack.”

Edan’s eye flicked away from Jeff’s, leaning down and taking a glass out of a cabinet before getting a couple ice cubes in it and pouring out a root beer into the glass from a can. “I know..”

“If you know, then you also know that there’s people that need you right now. Cherry, Laila, and Lorien are severely hurt.” Jeff pushed, making Edan stop and set the can down. The kid didn’t look at him but Jeff knew he had his attention and continued. “At least go help them before you lock yourself in.”

Edan closed his eyes before sprinting out from the counter and demanding. “Take me to them, help me get them inside and I can treat them in my lab.”

“Jesus how big is this place?” Jeff asked as he followed Edan out the front doors, surprised how fast the boy could move in boots that had at least two inches to his height. 

“The first floor is a dance room and kitchen, second floor in bedrooms that people can rent out, but I extended the basement to house my room and my lab. The lab is where I conduct my surgeries.” Edan said, slowing down to let Jeff take the lead.

“You do illegal surgeries too?” Jeff asked in surprise. “How have you not been caught?”

“I make it clear to whoever hears about my business that if they breathe a word they’ll never breathe again.” Edan’s voice was dark but was filled with amusement at the same time.

Jeff walked with him to the bus and commented. “And people don’t question your eye at all?”

“No, I tell everyone it’s makeup and cosplay.” Edan shrugged as he looked ahead and saw the bus. “Oh good god why is Lorien laying on a bus?”

“A Specter scorpion poisoned him.” Jeff briefly said before checking his surroundings and calling up to Lorien. “Come on boy! Edan is here!”

“Impossible..” Edan mumbled. “No specter has ever taken the form of a scorpion, only humans.”

“Well these Specters are learning new tricks.” Jeff said as Lorien lifted his head and let out a low croon.

“Jeff?” Laila’s voice called as she stepped out of the bus and smiled. “Edan..I’m so glad to see you.”

Edan gave a nod and replied. “You as well..Come on, let's get everyone inside.”

“Where can Lorien go?” Jeff asked as the demon slowly crawled off the bus, jostling the bus and waking everyone else up. 

“Lorien can hide out in the garage. It’s big enough for him.” Edan said. “I’ll lead him in, you lead the others to the club. None of the rooms were rented last night.”

Jeff nodded as Edan pet Lorien’s head and led him towards the club, the killer hopped up into the bus and called out. “Come on kids, we’re going to Edan’s place.”

“We’re here?” Nash yawned out, rubbing his eyes. “It’s sunny..”

“Come on Nash.” Laila smiled as she slowly picked him up and carried him off the bus.

Roxie and Aya got up sluggishly, Aya shaking Talon’s shoulder to wake him, while Jeff went to the back and picked Cherry up in her arms. She was limp and it honestly worried him, his feet quickly got Jeff off the bus and started walking to the club with the other kids staggering to follow him. The group arrived at the club in time for Edan to run over and lead them to his lab, the kids trying to absorb their surroundings for their own curiosity. The stairs went down and split two ways, two doors on either side and Edan opened the left side to show the large hospital-like room. It resembled the room that Dr.Smiley had back in Jeff’s time, lined with beds and equipment, with a single patient’s table in the center.

“Quickly, set Cherry on the table.” Edan ordered, going to the counter and taking a bottle from the cabinet above him. “Aya, I need you to take this and feed it to Lorien.”

“O-ok what is it?” Aya asked as she took the bottle, attempting to look at the label.

“No time to explain, just get it to him, go out the front doors and around to the back.” Edan said as he shooed her off. “Give him the whole bottle!”

She quickly ran out and Edan went over to Cherry with a tray table of supplies, lifting her shirt up to the underside of her breasts and taking some scissors to cut the bandages. Laila watched with worry but Edan looked up at her. “Laila if you want to help me here, please get everyone upstairs. Pick whatever rooms you want.”

Laila nodded, sadly, but she seemed to understand Edan needed space. She took Nash with her and Talon followed behind. Only Roxie and Jeff were left in the lab with Edan and Cherry. Roxie stepped forward and asked softly. “Edan? Can I help?”

“Sure..” Edan muttered before pointing to a machine with a monitor. “Bring the X-ray here. I need to see the internal damage without cutting her open.”

Just watching this made Jeff tense up, he was not one for check-ups and seeing Cherry on that table as Edan prepared her for the X-ray didn’t settle his nerves. Roxie quickly wheeled over the machine and Edan hastily, almost in a rhythmic and practiced dance, he smoothly moved Roxie away and set the monitor next to the table. Turning the machine on, Edan stared at it and hummed to himself before flicking it off and getting some latex gloves on. “You two leave, I need to get on this right away.”

“Will she be ok?” Roxie asked, grabbing Edan’s arm to make him look at her.

He said nothing at first but then nodded. “She’ll live.”

Jeff was ready to punch this kid, he wanted a more confident answer than that, but knew he probably wouldn’t get one. “Will all of her still be there or should I make sure her organs are there when I get back?”

Edan sent a glare towards Jeff and seethed. “I would never eat any part of her, I’m actually trying to kick the cannibal habit. Now get out.”

Jeff glared back but nodded, walking out with Roxie to the clubbing floor. On the first floor, Aya was already back and looked at the others with worry. “Lorien is asleep now..I’m not sure what this medicine is but it seems to be working?”

“We’ll know more later..” Roxie said. “Edan is performing surgery on Cherry..he said to go ahead and pick out our rooms.”

Aya nodded and walked up to the second floor with Roxie, Jeff following behind but not saying a thing. He was trying to piece Edan together mentally, while Edan looked and acted a lot like Ben, it was clear that Edan had some of EJ’s skill and intelligence. Maybe getting through to him won’t be as bad as the others made it sound. He has already accepted them coming in and was fixing Cherry up now, there seems to be no hostility against them. But he was still in denial of being a CP, thinking their lifestyle was dead, the kid even was giving up on eating organs.

On the second floor there were a total of 8 doors lined around, with two of the doors open already from the kids looking around. Roxie and Aya split off to look at rooms for themselves while Jeff went over to where Laila was to see her tucking Nash into one of the beds. She hummed a soft lullaby while pulling the red sheets over Nash, smiling and placing a small kiss on the top of his head before walking to the door. Jeff moved aside for her and she gently closed the door before muttering out. “You heading to bed as well?”

“Soon enough.” Jeff shrugged. “I want to stay up until Cherry is confirmed to be safe.”

“You really care.” Laila commented with a smile. “I thought coming from the past you would be disconnected from us..”

“Yeah well..she’s still my future kid. It would be an ass move just to act like you guys mean nothing.” Jeff confessed with a grumble, getting a giggle from her.

“That is true. I’m going to stay with Talon, he’s basically asleep on his feet. I know you’re worried about Cherry but you should try to sleep too.” Laila responded, before turning and going to the other room that was opened, where Talon was already passed out on the bed.

Jeff glanced over to Aya and Roxie, seeing the two disappear into different rooms and he released a sigh. It was still early but Jeff still wanted to wait, deciding to find Lorien in the meantime. Going back downstairs, the killer left the building and walked around to the back, following the continued road to the back where the garage was. It wasn’t anything fancy, and when Jeff entered through a side door there weren't any vehicles inside. The garage had a lot of supplies, but probably only for guests to use if they bring their cars here. Lorien was lying in the middle of the room, his back towards the garage door and his body curled up in a giant lump of black space. 

Petting the demon startled him awake, making a low purr as his purple eyes looked up at Jeff. The killer gave a half-smile and muttered. “Hey buddy, how are you?”

“Better..” The demon groaned out, leaning his head up as Jeff scratched his head.

“Good, you get some rest. Is the medicine helping?” 

Lorien nodded but stuck out his tongue and made a “bleh” noise, resulting in a chuckle from Jeff. “Well I don’t think there’s a un-nasty medicine in the world to help fight off venom.”

The demon nodded, laying his head back down and Jeff decided to take his leave, exiting the garage and hissing a bit when the sun hit his eyes. He pulled his hood over his head more and hurried back to the club, going to the bar counter and looking around for a drink. Normally Jeff didn’t drink alcohol, but an occasional beer or whiskey doesn’t hurt. After a few minutes of searching, Jeff took out one of the beers from the small fridge and sat at one of the stools, popping the cap off with his knife and taking a drink. The bitter liquid flooded his throat, making Jeff gag for a second and pull it away to get used to the taste again. His body and mind were tired but he also felt wired with worry, similar to his concern for LJ when he was hurt.

It could have been minutes, possibly an hour before he heard steps and saw Edan coming up the stairs and closing the hatch over it. Jeff looked over and watched the kid while asking. “How is she?”

“Asleep now, I gave her something to ease the pain and help her sleep. She shouldn’t be waking up until night.” Edan yawned, but glared as he picked up his glass and saw the ice cubes were already melted. He shrugged it off and drank the root beer, looking back at Jeff. “Candy will be her normal self by tonight, you should go sleep.”

“I will, when I finish my drink.” Jeff replied, holding his drink up for emphasis. “I actually wanted to talk to you anyways.”

Edan stared at him, calculating and careful, but he sipped his drink and huffed. “Alright, what’s up?”

“Shit...well to start, how did you know I was here?” 

“I have tapped cameras in here and in the whole city.” Edan shrugged. “Plus you weren’t exactly quiet.”

Ignoring his comment Jeff continued his questions. “Do you have powers like Ben? Or are you human?”

“Well..I can’t say I’m completely human.” Edan replied, leaning on the counter. “I have sharp teeth and pointed ears so I can hear really well and bite harder than most people. But no, I have no powers, my skill is whatever I take time to learn.”

“So, your main skill is being a doctor then?” Jeff raised a brow at the thought. “I thought you would’ve turned out to be some nerd.”

Edan gave an unamused look and sighed. “I have a lot of medical practice, I am more like a doctor, but I enjoy video games and looking into computer codes. But lately I’ve been so focused on the club I barely have time to learn new tricks.” 

“That’s another thing, how did you come to own this place?” 

“When I left the others I started searching for a job, the owner of this place needed some work done with the dance floor lights. I offered my services and he allowed me to stay here so long as I helped him fix things without pay. You could say I was an indentured servant. Eventually the guy took it a bit too far and tried to guilt trip me into having sex with him.” Edan explained.

“What a sick bastard..wait how old were you?” Jeff questioned, now a bit worried about Edan’s reply.

“I was 15 at the time, he was around his 30’s. So yeah, it was disgusting and I wasn’t in the mood for getting into another dramatic relationship. So I pretended to go with it and then used one of his sex toys and choked him to death.” Edan grinned, flashing his sharp teeth. “Then afterwards I ate his heart. When people asked me where he went and what happened I just said that he ran off with a wad of cash from the club, and I assumed the place due to his letter he wrote before disappearing.”

“Nicely done.” Jeff nodded with respect. “I’m guessing you do the same thing as Cherry then, killing people if they fuck with you.”

“Yep, if they don’t respect me or my rules here then they’re as good as dead. Or I drug them and take one of their organs to sell.” Edan replied, drinking more of his soda.

“Hold it, if you were 15 when you left..how long were you and Viper together?”

Jeff jolted as Edan began to choke and cough from his drink, gripping onto the counter and setting the glass down as he continued to cough. Eventually he caught his breath and glared at Jeff. “how do you know about him?”

“Uh the others? I asked to know who everyone was.” Jeff replied. “I’m just trying to understand everyone’s story.”

Edan grumbled, dumping the rest of his drink in the sink and setting the glass in a dishwasher. “He and I were dating at 13..when we were 15 that’s when he took off..”

“Huh..so you both have to be 17 now. And you guys dated for two years and that’s actually pretty good.” Jeff commented.

“Not good enough apparently..” Edan scowled. “The asshole didn’t even explain why he broke up, he could’ve talked to me. Or at least let me go with him.”

“Maybe he couldn’t play it cool?” Jeff suggested. “Some people have a hard time delivering news face to face.”

“Oh like that’s an excuse.” Edan snarled. “If I ever see him again I’m castrating him.”

“Ah well..before you do that, we actually need you to help us find him and Malik.”Jeff said, finishing his beer.

“No fucking way.” Edan growled at him, a full growl that was similar to his cannibal father. “First off, if I knew where Malik was I would’ve told the others. Secondly, I don’t want anything to do with the CP’s. I’ve made a great life and I’m not giving it up. Third, if and when Viper does show up I’ll stuff his ass with surgical needles and make him watch as I tear his jaw off!”

Jeff’s eyes were wide now as Edan caught his breath. “ok...I can tell who your anger is from.”

Edan froze up and let out a sigh. “Look Jeff..I can give you guys a place to stay for a couple nights and keep you all healed, but nothing else. I want nothing to do with you guys..”

Jeff said nothing as the boy left the counter and opened the hatch on the floor, probably heading to his room as he slammed the hatch closed. Even though Edan masked most of his words with anger and hate, part of it was sad and hurt. Getting up from the stool, Jeff let out a yawn and decided to go crash for the day, finding one of the empty rooms and kicking off his shoes before laying down. The warm bed lulled him to sleep quickly, the gravity of both tiredness and the warm sheets pulled Jeff down into a peaceful sleep.

Cherry awoke, sore and battered, her body throbbing and becoming more noticeable as she shook off the drowsiness. A groan escaped her lips as she realized how gross she felt and a mix of hot and cold. Slowly she sat up, her back popping a couple times as she rose up from the cold and uncomfortable surface, rubbing her eyes and she took note of her surroundings. Seeing the doctor-like lab she smiled a little, and smiled more when she looked down to see stitches going down her torso. 

“You truly are a freak you know that?” 

“Hello to you too Edan~” Cherry giggled as she looked towards the counter. “Nice ass~ when did you start wearing leather?”

Edan gave a smirk and looked back at her. “When I began to live here, my boss said if I had to wear something it was better than my baggy blue hoodie and torn up jeans. How do you feel?”

“Alive but really sore.” Cherry giggled, hissing when she felt her body tense up.

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Edan replied, walking over with a clipboard. “You had a broken rib, but thanks to having CP blood it seemed to only repair itself as a fractured rib. However it did create a laceration on your liver. Lucky for you I fixed it up.”

“Thank you doctor.” Cherry teased a little. “Anything I should be weary of?”

“Just try to take it easy. I don’t know what gave you a broken rib but as long as you don’t strain yourself, your body will heal on its own.” Edan replied, patting her back lightly. 

“Got it.” Cherry gave him the thumbs up then asked softly. “Edan? How long are we allowed to stay?”

Even Edan couldn’t resist saying no to Cherry, it seemed to be everyone's weakness. “Well..so long as you guys don’t mind the loud music..you guys can stay for a few days.”

“Thanks Edan!” Cherry giggled, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him close as she rested her head on his stomach.

Edan’s cheeks flushed red as he gently brushed her hair with his slender fingers. “Ok ok just let go. I need to make sure everything upstairs is set.”

“Set? For what?” Cherry asked, letting go of him. 

“For work.” Edan replied. “I already checked you over so you just need to rest. We should probably get you upstairs before my staff comes in today.”

He helped Cherry off the table, holding her up as she hissed and grabbed at her stitches. The two slowly made their way up to the dance floor and Cherry looked around with a gleam of excitement. “Wow..nice place! When do you think I can dance?”

Edan chuckled softly. “Maybe if you convince Aya to heal you faster you can tonight. But without her magic you probably have to wait around 3 days.”

“I will speak to her right away!” Cherry popped up more, standing tall.

“Easy Cherry, everyone is asleep and it’s only 4pm.” Edan explained before helping her up the stairs. “What’s happening right now is getting you a room. Do you want to share with someone?”

“Nah, empty room, I need space to lay out.” Cherry replied and let Edan guide her to a room.

Once getting her into bed, Edan made sure she wasn’t harming herself more and then commented. “If you need something, get the others first. I need to go get my staff inside.”

“Got it.” Cherry smiled, and quickly took his hand before he could walk away. “Edan, we really need your help.”

Edan frowned but didn’t pull his hand away. “I know..we’ll talk later ok?”

She nodded, letting go of his hand as he left. With not much to do she rested there with her eyes closed and ready for sleep to take her again. Edan in the while closed the door and walked back downstairs, locking the gate to the stairs and moving to the doors to open them. Seeing his bouncer Damien walk in and chuckled. “Hey little boss, how are things going?”

“Oh you know, just as well as they could be.” Edan shrugged, turning on the neon lights inside the house and began walking to each table to turn on the table lights.

Damien was an employee that had worked there before most of the staff, a simple man you could call the “biker gang” type, ranging in his 30’s. He would always cover for any mistakes Edan made when he was working in the past, and as soon as the boss “vanished” he turned a blind eye for an extra amount of cash. Damien was a good guy, but his weakness would be considered greed, so long as he was paid he wouldn’t report anything. But he was a basic guy otherwise, dark brown hair, cinnamon colored eyes, a rose tattoo that had barbwire curling up his left arm, and his clothes were just jeans with a black t-shirt.

“Damien, keep a sharp lookout tonight, I feel like we’re going to get unwanted guests.” Edan said as he went behind the bar counter and checked the tablet there.

“Oh? What makes you think that?” Damien asked with a raised brow as he got the computer at the front ready for license scanning. “Did someone complain about the rules again?”

Edan had only ever warned him if he received threats, or for the first few months when Edan took the place over he wanted to make sure specters wouldn’t come in. Although he never thought specters would come into a club, now that the other CP’s were here and bruised he didn’t want to take chances. “No, but I have a bad feeling about the next few days. Just make sure none of the staff goes off alone. I don’t care who can take care of themselves, I don’t want to risk an injury.”

“What? we running low on morphine?” Damien joked, but getting an unamused look from Edan he shrugged. “Ok ok I’ll let everyone know.”

“Thanks. And also we’re not doing any rentals of rooms right now.” Edan explained. “I have some..friends over.”

“Oof, not that guy you got in a fight with I hope.” Damien said, but a slow grin made his way on his face. “The poor guy had to give you a kidney in exchange for you to patch up his broken leg. And then you said he had to pay you with a heart, lungs, and liver next time he shows up.”

“No it’s not him..” Edan hissed, rubbing his temple. Damien also knew of Edan’s side work, but was glad that Damien held his tongue for an extra $100’s on his paycheck. “And I meant what I said, if he comes around he better have those organs with him..”

“Understood~ So who’s upstairs then?” Damien asked, motioning his index finger up at the second floor. 

“Some old friends, they’re only here for a couple days.” Edan replied. “Now shut it and get the lights outside on.”

“On it boss.” Damien saluted before walking to the closet. 

The teen let out a sigh of annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose before going back to counting the till. He waited patiently and saw the lights of the neon come on in the room and the bronze light turned off to only have the room illuminated with neon rainbow colors. He heard the kitchen door open and he greeted his staff members as they prepared for the night, and the DJ walked in as soon as a group of young adults were waiting outside the door.

“Jeez boss, didn’t get any sleep?” Damien asked after the room was set up, but not ready to open the door yet.

“One of my friends needed to be patched up.” Edan explained. “Don’t worry too much, I napped yesterday anyways. Open up the doors.”

Damien nodded, and although he was a great employee and accomplice, even he couldn’t tell the human his CP blood line or about how his eyes were really the way it looked. The man could only be pushed so far before his limits could be reached, like people that have an excuse to drug someone’s drinks. Edan poured his heart and soul into this business, and he was not going to lose it for anything. Whether that was Specters, humans, or even the CPs. They made full proof security that no one with a criminal record would get in, people were checked for drugs and weapons, and even if something dangerous slipped in then most of the staff knew how to use a taser or gun.

People began to pour in as the beat of the DJ’s music drummed through the floorboards, group by group, person by person, people came in. Edan watched with a content smile, feeling the rhythm in his veins. His foot tapped, then his hands on the counter, and soon he was swaying his hips to the beat and he told his employees he was going to dance. Getting onto the dance floor was easy, everyone that was a regular knew who he was, and was constantly flattered by how everyone treated him like the top dog in the nightclub. He went from a lifeless shadow to the neon king, the duke of the night, the baron of illegal surgeries, and a dazzling heart throb for both boys and girls. He could get whatever and whoever he wanted, but it wasn’t what he wanted. He had the respect, and he wasn’t going to lose that.


	9. Histories Future

The music below made Jeff groan, making it impossible for him to sleep. Looking over at the clock on the nightstand and growling to see it was only 6pm. The killer got onto his feet, slipping his shoes on before heading downstairs. The room was bursting with energy, lights shined on people and the place was basically swinging with excitement. Jeff was sure if he watched the lights that were hanging above the dancers, that you could see them shake. The lights upstairs were off, the only way you could see was by the LED lights on the floor leading to the stairs. Mixed smells of alcohol, colognes and perfumes, it was enough to make Jeff nauseous. Jeff pulled up his hood when he got to the bottom of the stairs, making sure no one could see his face. Not like anyone would care, since everyone was busy dancing and drinking. 

He walked along the lighted path, trying to avoid bumping into anyone, but stopped and looked to the center seeing a hole made for someone. Jeff got closer, doing his best not to get elbowed or hit on his way through, and was shocked by what he saw. Edan was straight up break dancing with someone, it was so coordinated, it looked planned like from a professional dance competition. His body followed the music but never let the other customers come close to touching him, the one guy next to him made a move to touch his waist but was kicked in the chin by the heel of Edan’s boot. 

Jeff moved out of the way of the crowd as the music picked up, deciding to get to the safety of the bar. At the counter he asked for a beer and announced himself as a guest of Edan’s, the bartender seemed skeptical but obliged and made a tab just in case. There was nothing else to do but drink at this point, waiting patiently and thinking about the next plan. The next step should be getting Viper back, but how would they find him? Edan most likely won’t let them use his cameras, and with him hunting specters it will be hard to predict where he’ll be. Sighing, Jeff took another drink but froze as Edan sat next to him.

“Shouldn’t you be resting Jeff?” Edan questioned, sweaty and out of breath but focused and looking at Jeff with suspicion.

“How could I possibly sleep with all this noise.” Jeff replied with a shrug. “Felt like having a drink.”

Edan assured the bartender the drinks were free before saying to Jeff. “I just don’t like the idea of you being here. How do I know you haven’t brought Specters back with you?”

“I can’t guarantee that they’re not following..According to the others, the specters never attacked them like this before.”

“You’re saying that specters are hunting them?” Edan groaned. “Gee thanks for bringing them here, how about you call the police while you’re at it?”

“I will if you act this sarcastic I might.” Jeff growled. “Just hear me out ok? We need to get Viper and Malik here.”

“I can’t.” Edan hissed. “Malik is wandering and Viper is not welcomed back.” 

Jeff snarled. “I think this will go smoother if you tell me what happened two years ago.”

Edan glared, but his height only made him lose the dominance glare. “Fine..come on let’s go to my room.”

The two walked downstairs together, the music still thumping loudly above them, and Edan opened the door on his right. Jeff was astonished by the size of the room, it was as large as the lab only was occupied by more personal things, how the living hell did he get this stuff down here? There was a large king-sized bed with velvet green sheets, a vanity desk and mirrors off to the right side. The room itself was cold and still had the concrete walls but with black carpet covering the floors, but on the right wall there were screens of all sizes and types lined up with different views of the club. On the left wall was a separate TV that had consoles littered around it with a couple blue beanbags, and three large book shelves that were lined up with movies and video games.

Edan walked over to the set up of screens and used a controller to turn them all off, sitting in his swivel chair. “Alright, before I start, didn’t Laila or Talon tell you shit about us?”

Jeff shook his head, leaning on the wall as he answered. “Not really. They’re keeping things cryptic. I guess they’re worried I’ll fuck something up when I go home.”

“They’re right to worry.” Edan replied. “But in this situation we can’t keep all the doors closed. So, what do you want to hear from me?”

“Let’s get some light basics first.” Jeff shrugged and pulled his hood down. “Like..do you actually think the CP life is dead?”

Edan’s eye narrowed, sighing a bit as he brushed the fringe of hair out of the way of his right eye. Only, there was no eye, just a dark socket with black ooze pouring down his cheek. “There’s no way I could run away from what I am Jeff. Do I think the CP’s lost? Absolutely, but we’re not dead. It’s best to go back to the way things were with our old CP life. Back into hiding, staying close to the shadows. Growing bold only leads to our demise.”

“Is that a fact?”

“A theory.” Edan huffed, dropping the hair back into place. “What other explanation could there be for the destruction of our home? The genocide made others panic and we lost everything because we showed ourselves.”

Jeff’s brow furrowed as he listened before commenting. “The CP’s were destroyed by another CP.”

Edan looked surprised but only hummed. “Well, chalk it up then as revenge or power hungry.”

“Yeah..” Jeff muttered. “Anyways, what about Malik? What can you tell me about him?”

“He’s your son.” Edan scoffed. “He acts like you, is tough, but strangely quiet when he’s not around Cherry..When he left he said something about finding the person that caused this, but..well shit I’m not that close to him.”

“Ok..so not much there. Have specters ever gotten in here? Or attacked you?” Jeff asked.

“No, I found it odd but..not that I know of. If they have then they would have to mimic a living person and use their ID to get in. And even then that means they couldn’t attack anyone without making a scene.” Edan explained, motioning his hand to the screens. “I have eyes everywhere, there isn’t one spot in this place that anyone could be harmed.”

Jeff raised a brow and cleared his throat. “Even..the bedrooms?”

Edan gave a smirk and shrugged. “Some people are into that weird shit of killing someone during sex. I can’t risk it, plus..it’s good inspiration.”

Jeff quickly moved off the suggestive topic. “What can you tell me about that fight that separated everyone?”

The grin vanished and Edan got up. “Here, let’s go sit on the bean bags. If I sit on the swivel chair while explaining this I might just start spinning around out of boredom.”

Both settled on different bean bags and Edan opened up his mini fridge by the tv to take out some sodas, handing one to Jeff before starting. “Alright, just a warning, this is a petty story. The fight was pointless and I think everyone knows it. But this is also out of my view, I couldn’t tell you what the others thought even if I wanted to.”

~In the past, 2 years before~

All the kids were sitting in the main room of an old office building, eating some ramen and other convenience store crap, a few of the kids laughing and cracking jokes. Edan played with his hair as he played on his Nintendo Switch, leaning against Viper that was sitting next to him. Said proxy had an arm around Edan’s waist and watched him play his games with mild interest, muttering softly in Edan’s ear. “What game is this again?”

“Empire of Sin.” Edan smiled, nudging his head softly to Viper. “Stop talking into my ear.”

Viper only smirked and played with the growing fringe that had yet to cover Edan’s right socket. “You like it.”

“I’ll like it more when it doesn't have ramen breath going with it. ” Edan teased, pecking his cheek.

“Oh like you’re any better.” Viper huffed, moving away and letting Edan drop to the floor with a yelp.

“Hey where’s Laila at?” Roxie asked, looking up from her sewn doll that was two different dolls sewn into one. “She hasn’t come back yet.”

“She and Malik are still looking around.” Aya shrugged. “Something about looking for specters.”

“Why did Lala and Mal look for s-sp..Specters?” Nash asked nervously, looking up from his food and nuzzling into Cherry’s side with a twitch.

“I’m not sure Nash.” Cherry replied, petting the 8 year old head. “But if I know my brother he’s probably kicking ass!”

“Language Cherry.” Talon scolded grumpily, finishing his food.

“What’s with him?” Edan mumbled to Viper as he sat back up and paused his game.

“Bet you $5 it’s from him hitting puberty.” Viper replied with a chuckle.

There were steps outside the room, arguing to be heard, Edan looked back down at his game but listened to the background as the door slammed open. “Malik we can’t keep hunting these things down!”

“I think we can! If we get rid of them then there’s nothing standing in our way and we can go back home.”

“There is no home!” Laila shouted suddenly, making Edan jolt a bit but refused to look up.

“Hey step off!” Cherry snapped. “Malik is risking his life to keep those specters off our asses-”

“All three of you calm down.” Aya added. “Laila I know you’re under a lot of stress-”

“What would you know!? What would any of you immature brats know?!” Laila shouted. “I drain myself everyday with this damn book and can’t find a trace of any other CP’s! While I’m out there trying to get our CP life together you all are sitting around or going through the city and picking up fights!”

“Like you can blame us, we’re basically just moving from one abandoned place to the next. ” Viper said suddenly, leaving Edan’s side but still refused to look up. “I think Malik is right, we should find out what makes these things tick.”

“No, what I’m suggesting is finding whatever killed our family.” Malik hissed. “I remember seeing a flash of light, it couldn’t have been a human attack-”

“Malik it does not matter! Now you listen to me, I was put in charge of everyone and no one is going anywhere.” Laila seethed out, a few steps went past Edan before a door slammed again.

It was silent for a moment besides the occasional sniff and twitch from Nash, more steps were heard and Roxie called out softly. “Malik..? Where are you going?”

“Killing..” The killer mumbled. “I need to think.”

“I’ll go with you.” Cherry said, her peppy tone still there to lighten the mood. “In fact, why don’t we all go out?”

“Are you sure..?” Aya muttered, the 10 year old still frightened from the fight.

“Laila needs space, come on.” Roxie comforts softly.

Edan finally looked up, seeing the others leaving one at a time except Viper and Talon. Talon got up and said softly. “I’m staying here, I’ll go see Laila.” 

As he walked off Edan sighed and laid on his back, keeping the Nintendo Switch over his face. When he noticed Viper moving over him, practically boxing him to the floor he set the game down and smiled at his boyfriend. “You staying too?”

“Edan, what do you think about this?” Viper asked, his voice serious.

“Not sure..why?” Edan shrugged, moving a hand up to play with a lock of Viper’s cocoa colored hair.

“Just wondering..we’re..we’re 16 now if I remember correctly..technically like adults.” Viper muttered awkwardly.

“Well you’re 16 I’m 15.” Edan chuckled and cupped the teen’s cheeks in his hands. “Dustie..what’s on your mind?”

Viper froze hearing his birth name but then relaxed, taking one of Edan’s hands and pecking the palm of it. “Edan, we’ve been dating for a whole year and now..I want to go a bit further before any more shit hits the fan.”

Edan’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. “Wait..you want to..are you sure? I mean I love the idea but..why now? You insisted on waiting until I was 17 at least.”

“Because..” Viper grumbled. “Just, trust me on this Edan, I don’t think things are going to get better. And the last thing I want is for anyone to be hurt by specters, and we might not ever get the chance for us just to have one night.”

“Dustie..” Edan muttered but didn’t get to continue as the proxy got off him and lifted him off the floor.

“Please Edan.” Viper practically pleaded. “I just want one night with just the two of us, no specters or drama..”

Edan thought this was odd but nodded slowly, smiling a bit. “I trust you Dustie, and if you’re ready then I’m ready.”

~Present~

Edan finished off with a scowl. “The next morning he left a note and was gone. Laila apologized to everyone for her behavior and said she we have the right to do anything we want and go anywhere. So a couple weeks later I took off and got to the club.”

“And you haven’t talked to anyone since then?” Jeff asked, Edan was right, the argument was petty.

Edan looked away, taking a sip from his soda. “Sort of..After a year Viper came to my door with a broken leg and traded me an organ for fixing him up. After I was done I told him to leave.”

“Got it..so..why exactly do you hate him?” Jeff inquired. 

Edan glared at him,his temper flaring and voice raising as he spoke. “He had sex with me then left the next morning, left no explanation of where he was going, and never even asked me to go with him!” 

“Ah, so you’re just mad he didn’t confide in you his plan to hunt Specters.” Jeff replied, not intimidated by the teen boy. 

Edan bit his lip, his hands clenched into fists at his side, he looked like a child whose toy was taken away. Jeff knew the kid was struggling to find a way to fight back, not wanting to admit anything. The killer yielded and stood up. “Edan, your love life isn’t my problem, what I need is the rest of the CP’s together. If we find this guy then we can leave you to your solitude.”

The teen glared and got up. “I have conditions..”

Oh boy.. “alright, what are they?”

“One, if you want to find the traitor you leave me out of it. Two, no coming here if you think a specter is on you. And three..if you get Viper then keep him a yard away from me.”

“I think that’s manageable..Alright, thanks for the information.” Jeff agreed and moved to the door before turning to Edan. “and please..please! Don’t ever talk about your sex life.”

Edan gave an amused huff and smiles. “I’ll do my best.”

Jeff left afterwards, deciding to go upstairs and see the kids, staying away from the crowd as best as he could. Getting to the second floor he noticed one of the doors open and upon walking closer he saw Roxie and Cherry playing with cards on the queen sized bed. They were smiling and laughing, as if nothing was wrong or chaotic and a smile tugged at Jeff’s lips. Roxie glanced over at the door and waved Jeff over. “Hi uncle Jeff!”

“Hey kids. Cherry, how are you feeling?” Jeff asked as he walked in and sat with them on the bed.

“Sore but good, at least I can laugh now.” Cherry giggled and moved a few cards to Jeff. “wanna join?”

“Sure..” Jeff replied, taking the cards. “What’s the game?”

“Five crowns.” Roxie replied. “Is something wrong Jeff? You seem..unnerved.”

“Not really, just..annoyed I guess. Edan told me about the argument two years ago.” Jeff explained, watching their reactions.

Roxie looked rather upset, focusing on her cards, but Cherry spoke gently with an understanding smile. “Laila has done so much, and at the time she was only 17, we all are still growing and have so much to still understand about adulthood.”

“It was scary seeing her like that though..” Roxie muttered. “I know she didn’t mean it but..”

“Roxie her anger was more towards me and Malik at the time.” Cherry replied, patting the girls shoulder. 

Jeff watched silently before saying. “Edan is allowing us to use his equipment for finding Malik and Viper.”

“Since Malik’s last letter was from Alaska we’ll need another way to find him.” Roxie commented. “When Aya is up we can talk to her.”

“Should I just get her now? Most likely she’s awake now.” Cherry shrugged a bit.

“Go ahead and see if she’s up.” Jeff replied. “If she’s not just leave her be.”

Cherry got up and left the room quickly, Roxie stared at Jeff with an unreadable expression, her pink eyes analyzing him. He tried to look away but he felt like he was stuck watching her. “What?”

“Jeffy, are you sure bringing the boys in on this is a good idea?” Roxie questioned. 

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Jeff asked with surprise. “It’s getting you all together.”

“Well..you should be focusing on getting home.” Roxie continued. “Not fixing our problems..plus if Aya can find a way to track this traitor down then the boys won’t be needed here.”

“Are you against the guys being here? Or are you just scared to see another fight?” 

Roxie closed her mouth and looked down, making it easy for Jeff to tell what she was most worried about. “I-i just don’t want us to be torn apart further..”

“Hey Rox..” Jeff sighed, moving his index finger to her chin and making her look up. “Look at me, the CP’s..at least from my time fought all the time...it’s how families are. It’s not bad, it’s just how families are. And no matter what comes your way, CP’s stick together.”

Roxie smiled a little. “So it’s normal?”

“Totally, the thing you can do to help is just not pick sides, state your own standpoint.” Jeff moved his hand away and looked to the door as Cherry walked in, dragging a sleepy phantom girl behind her.

“She’s up~!” Cherry giggled, letting go of Aya’s wrist.

“Cherry! I was dreaming!” Aya whined, rubbing her eyes with one hand and the other hand holding the book. “Why did you wake me? And why did I need to bring the book.”

“We want to talk about spells to get Malik back.” Cherry replied, climbing back onto the bed and moving the cards away.

Aya set the book on the bed and opened it up to see the spells. “I already said..there's nothing here that can track a CP..only inanimate objects. The only way to possibly track someone is by doing a blood ritual, but we still need DNA to find him.”

“What about Cherry’s blood? They’re twins, don't they have the same DNA?” Roxie questioned.

Aya stopped and looked at the book for a second before looking up. “Y-you’re right, it could work! If we use Cherry’s blood it could lead us to Malik!”

Jeff smiled seeing them chatting away with excitement. “Alright girls, we should wait until everyone is here. Aya, keep reading up on it, and if you can maybe find a way to find Viper.”

“Oh Viper? Nah, he’s probably still around the city somewhere. We should send Laila and Talon looking for him.” Cherry waved her hand a bit.

“Are you sure? Maybe we should ask Edan to find him.” Aya replied.

“Unfortunately..part of Edan’s terms and conditions was to not be involved with Viper..” Jeff mumbled a bit.

“What did he exactly say?” Roxie asked with a grin, resting her chin on the palm of her hand.

“Um..keep Viper a yard away from him?” Jeff shrugged. “Also not to bring any Specters around and don’t involve him on the hunt for the traitor.”

“Ah~ see he didn’t specify that he wouldn’t help find Viper. And with Edan, he is the perfect bait to get Viper here.” Roxie giggled. “Don’t you see? We can ask him to find Viper.”

“And what makes you think he’ll help?” Jeff rolled his eyes, knowing the likelihood of getting Edan to help was slim.

“We send in his best friend Cherry.” Aya smiled. “She and him have a tight connection.”

“Mhm~ and he can’t resist my puppy eyes.” Cherry fluttered her lashes for emphasis as she burst out into giggles.

“Alright, so if you manage to convince him then what?” Jeff questioned. 

“We continue with your plan.” 

The four turned to the door to see Laila and Talon, Nash in Laila’s arms and bouncing with excitement. Laila smiled as she continued talking. “We find Viper, then Malik, and hopefully find out where the traitor is.”

“If we’re lucky then the traitor will come out on their own.” Talon added on. “And Aya, if you need anything then we’ll get it for you. There’s also an energy spell that can transfer one person's strength to help you with your magic.”

“Or! You could do what Laila does and learn how to meditate to increase your power.” Nash commented, jumping out of Laila’s arms, running over and getting onto the bed.

“We’ll figure it out.” Aya smiled, holding Nash close. “You know, in the meantime let’s go downstairs and dance!”

“I’m not so sure kids, it’s really..crowded down there.” Jeff mumbled. “What if someone gets a little too crazy?”

“Jeff, no one will think of us any different.” Laila said calmly. “Of course I’m not going down, I’m still healing.”

“I’ll stay here too, not in the mood to dance.” Roxie commented. “Come on Laila, it’s been a while since we’ve spoken.”

Laila sat on the bed and Jeff got up to make room. “Alright then, I’ll bite. I’ll join you guys.”

“Come on! Dancing time!” Nash shouted, dragging Aya off the bed and hurrying out the door.

“I’ll keep an eye on them.” Talon smirked as he followed them out. “Last thing we need is a fire.”

Cherry giggled and grabbed Jeff’s arm, yanking him along. “I hope I haven’t missed Edan’s dancing! He was always the best dancer! Aya heal me on the way!”

Jeff followed, seeing how there were more people than before, and the ground was practically shaking from the dancing. The kids ran down, which surprised a lot of the guests to see such young kids in there, but afterwards shook it off and continued dancing. The music pulsated in everyone’s veins, sitting around was not an option, it was addictive. Soon the kids got into the groove, and although their dances weren’t remarkable, they had some moves and could read the room. None of the humans seemed to be disturbed by them, it almost made Jeff envious by their active camouflage. What surprised Jeff was the lack of Edan’s presence, but it was possible he was sulking in his room.

Aya had quickly healed Cherry’s sides at one of the corners of the room, as she finished Cherry immediately ran into the crowd. Her moves were chaotic but fascinating to watch and people around her began to cheer for more. Jeff watched from the side as Aya took a seat at an empty table, the killer joining her soon after. “Something on your mind kid?”

“I’m just not in the mood to dance.” Aya smiled at him. “I only came down to watch the others.”

“There’s more to it then that.” Jeff implied. “Come on, you can tell me.”

The tween seemed torn, not about telling what she was thinking of, but something else entirely. “I..just don’t know if I can do this..the spells I mean. A lot of them are high powered magic and Laila said that if I strain myself too much I could get really hurt..”

“Is that it?” Jeff raised a brow, crossing his arms and leaning back in the booth. “Aya just go with what you can do. What magic can you use right now?”

She tapped her ghostly fingers on the table. “Oh I know how to use them all. But despite knowing there is a certain amount of energy that every magic type takes. Like, candle magic, earth magic, and palm reading are not really energy taking. But what will drain a lot from me is folk magic, imitation magic, and chaos magic.”

“So how does this work with saving energy?” Jeff asked. 

“Well everyone that participates in magic has their own way. Sometimes it’s just using your power when you need it, some people consume certain foods or drinks, and sometimes it’s more..physical..” Aya muttered, her cheeks flushing in a rose color.

“Wait..sex can be part of magic?” Jeff gagged a bit. “Who’s dumbass came up with that?”

“Paschal Beverly Randolph, 19th century.” Aya shrugged. “Must’ve been a lonely guy. But his idea was similar to blowing out a candle on your birthday. During sex you wish for something and use that energy as your magic source. Of course it’s not as sexy as some people think if you do it to just get your wish. Sometimes you need to make a circle around them, or have a certain incense. Some of the really intense people use blood.”

“And you know all this why?” Jeff grumbled, unable to meet Aya’s gaze. He didn’t imagine having to talk about sex so casually with these kids, it was mildly disturbing.

“It’s in the book and I asked about it. Laila explained it to me.” Aya answered. “But that’s beside the point, the main thing I’m worried about is what magic I will use. I mean, to find Malik there’s only a few options if we want this done ASAP.”

“Just name them all.” Jeff shrugged, wanting to get straight to the point.

“Well..Ritual magic, spells and using specific tools. It could use blood, words, and tools. Chaos magic utilizes symbols and several rituals to play that could take a couple days. Earth magic could work but it borderlines Alchemy and talking to plant spirits so it will take a couple days. Sex magic is able but it’s more like a 50/50 chance. Scapulomancy, throwing a bone into fire and the cracks can be interpreted. And lastly, Scrying or hydromancy where the practitioner is able to see images or scenes in the reflection of still water.” 

Jeff had to take a moment to remember all the types, it doesn’t take him long to memorize something but magic is not really his thing. “Ok, so why not split up the work? You do something of stronger magic and one of us does the lighter magic tricks.”

“It’s not that simple. Even if you guys were to do Scapulomancy or Scrying without me you would need someone connected to magic. Laila’s only connection to magic is through spells that can be made by words or rituals.” Aya explained.

“How about this, what will guarantee us finding Malik?”

“The ones that would work best..probably Chaos magic or Ritual magic. But it will take several hours to a couple days depending on the spell.” Aya replied.

“Great. So while you prepare one of those, find something else we can use.” Jeff smirked, an idea spawning in his head.

“But the only thing you guys can pull off is sex-” Aya stopped, her yellow eyes widening. “You want Edan and Viper to use sex magic.”

“It’s a 50/50 shot right? If nothing else those two might get their shit together.” Jeff shrugged.

“Ok hold on. You’re saying in the next couple days, you want Edan to find Viper and bring him back, and then another day later have sex with him. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?” Aya’s voice squeaked. “Heck, Edan would probably kill him during the ritual, then it would be from orgasm magic to summoning demons with organs!”

Jeff covered her mouth. “Look, just find another magic we could potentially use and we’ll talk about it with everyone when we get Viper here.”

Aya pushed his hand off and sighed. “I guess there’s not many options at this point.” 

“Here, let me get you a soda or something.” Jeff said, grabbing the small menu on the table and pushing it to her.

Aya said nothing but gave a small smile as she looked over the list, the two sitting silently together. Enjoying the music in the background and watching their friends dance into bliss.


	10. Proxy of the City

“No fucking way.” Edan seethed, cleaning the counter top of the bar. “I’m not going to find Viper! What makes you think I’ll find him anyways?”

The club was closed and the employees gone, it was now 5 am and Edan told the employees to go home and he would finish cleaning. Talon put Nash to bed and Cherry was fast asleep in one of the booths. Aya was with Talon, looking over the spell book and attempting to find a spell to find Malik. Roxie, Laila, and Jeff were at the bar, trying to coax Edan into helping.

“He’s got a lot of virtue, if he sees you outside he’ll probably tell you to get inside to avoid Specters.” Laila replied. “Please Edan, all you have to do is go calling out for him.”

“I don’t think so.” Edan hissed. “I don’t want him here, much less without my payment for fixing him up.”

“Then let us get the payment while you find him.” Jeff suggested, half annoyed.

“Come on Edan, if you don’t want to go alone take one of us with you.” Roxie shrugged off.

“I don’t think that’s wise.” Laila pointed out, looking to Roxie. “If there’s danger then Viper will only have enough energy to teleport himself and one other person.”

“He won’t need to teleport because I’m not looking for him!” Edan shouted, slapping the cloth into a cabinet and snapping it shut. “Look, how else can I get it through to you guys? I told you to leave me out of this!”

“Technically you want nothing to do with the CP hunt.” Jeff smirked. “Come on, just act as a damsel in distress around the city and then bring Viper here. Another thing about this is you can knock him out when you find him.”

“You don’t understand how strong Viper is, he’s not only gun smart, he’s fist smart and knows the city like the back of his hand.” Edan crossed his arms. 

“Wouldn’t you like to show him how strong you’ve gotten then?” Roxie smirked. “Unless you’re saying there’s no way you can win.”

Edan slammed his hands on the counter and got right into Roxie’s face. “Look here, I can knock him out in 5 seconds flat. Fine you guys want me to drag him here I will, but you’ll all be getting the organs then.”

Laila nodded with a smile. “What do you need?”

“Fresh organs. I have organ coolers if you need them. I want a healthy heart, right and left lung, and a healthy liver.” Edan listed out.

“Alright, uncle Jeff do you want to help me with this?” Laila asked, standing up.

“Sure, killing sounds fun.” Jeff grinned, getting up from the stool. “And Edan, don’t forget-”

“I get it.” Edan growled. “I can find him by myself, Roxie you’re in charge while I’m gone.”

“Yes!” Roxie fist-pumped and ran over to Aya and Talon. “I’m in charge!”

Edan sighed, rubbing his forehead and brushing the hair out of his face. Laila watched and leaned over the counter. “Edan I know this isn’t easy but-”

“Would you please just go?” Edan grumbled under his breath, taking a cooler from behind the counter and handing it over the counter top.

Laila nodded and took the cooler, moving away and walking with Jeff out of the building. Since her wings were still strapped tight to her body, Roxie made her a black cape to cover up. One of Roxie’s many talents with a needle. Jeff pulled his hood up and glanced at Laila. “So, what defines “healthy” to him?”

“Hearts used to be his favorite thing to eat, So someone that doesn’t smoke at least.” Laila shrugged. “Basically any good organs will be from people that don’t drink or smoke.”

“Damn. Ok, any age limit?” Jeff shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“Best guess would be 20’s to 30’s.” Laila answered and began walking without any general place in mind. “Let’s just go see if there’s any assholes that we can take them from.”

“Ah, so you and your mom have the same killing morals.” Jeff pointed out. “I never really understood that.”

“Well I just think if we kill off bad people then only good ones will live. Then maybe they’ll actually do something like, stop global warming, be a good president. One can hope.” Laila smiled.

“Fair enough.” Jeff shrugged off. “So, where are we going?”

“Well since it’s early morning we should look for residential areas. Lots of people will still be asleep or just waking up for work.” Laila suggested, then started looking around in amazement. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen the city..it’s changed so much.”

“I can agree with that..then again I’m 19 years into the future.” Jeff mumbled.

“What is it like in the past?” Laila asked, smiling at him.

“Well..smaller, less business and more houses. I mean, I couldn’t really walk the streets in the past like I am now.” Jeff elaborated. “Even so, lots of families, especially scumbags so it was a great hunting ground.”

“I wish I could’ve seen it..” Laila muttered. 

“Seriously, what happened?” Jeff asked. “It seems like Slender knew about the disaster to come, did he just not send me in your time?”

“No, what I remember was that my mother said she and Zalgo were trying to find out why CP’s were becoming less resilient to attacks and weaker. It was like..CP’s were being drained. You barely left LJ’s side.” Laila described.

“Wait a fucking second.” Jeff cut her off. “You mean to tell me that since Slender didn’t send me back then that all this happened?”

“Precisely, I believe this time Slender passed the message on because of the Council. My mother said that Zalgo was the one to find out something was wrong. Said that a lot of the gems and relics he held were starting to lose power.”

“Holy shit..so what happened when you were a kid?”

“Um..well I wasn’t allowed to go out of sight from the house, I was given the book to practice magic but I could only do so much..and I was trained how to fight and fly.” Laila smiled a bit. “I guess the one thing they forgot was how to teach me to be a better guardian for the others. But that’s what Lorien is here for.”

“Must’ve been a lot of pressure on you..what were the other kids doing over the years?” 

“Well Edan was learning how to be a doctor like EJ, Cherry and Malik were learning to fight and how to have fun at the same time. It was actually cool seeing them come up with maneuvers like Attack Beta, or Dipping Dodge. Anyways, Then as soon as Aya showed her abilities they started trying to teach her how to hold onto her magic which led to several house fires and things levitating out of nowhere. Viper was in intense proxy training, Roxie was learning how to dew and stitch, Talon was mainly training underground. And once Nash was born well..he was still a kid and so didn’t learn anything from the CPs, plus when he got scared or nervous he would twitch like crazy. A tick that hasn’t gone away.” Laila giggled a bit. “We were a silly bunch.”

“Silly isn’t what I’d use..” Jeff mumbled to himself. “More like trapped..”

“That’s..not far off I suppose.” Laila admitted. “But we were being bred for the end of the CP race and..it came, so even if our childhood wasn’t the best we can at least look for a brighter future.”

“I couldn’t live like that. Hell I have to kill at least two times a week to keep my kicks up as the greatest killer.” Jeff tilted his head up proudly.

“That’s right, you had the highest kill count!” Laila laughed. “You are quite a legend Jeff.”

Oh that wasn’t a brush to his ego, Jeff chuckled and ruffled her hair. “Come on and pick a house.”

The angel CP nodded, looking around for a moment before tugging Jeff along to one of the many houses that was in view. Walking around the back, Laila carefully opened the window near the kitchen and climbed in. She waved Jeff in after making sure no one was in the room, Jeff sneaking in quietly to join her as he slowly moved to the stairs. Laila checked the following rooms on the base floor while Jeff made his way upstairs, careful to step slowly to reduce his sounds. Opening the first room by the stairs, Jeff saw it was the master bedroom and looked down at Laila, who was currently walking up the steps, and nodded his head to the door.

“Look good enough?” Jeff muttered as he walked in and took out his knife.

“There’s alcohol downstairs..I guess the husband drinks. Kill them both.” Laila replied with a nervous sigh.

“Something wrong..?” Jeff asked quietly, glancing at her but trying to stay focused on the couple in bed.

“It..doesn’t feel right killing good people. I’m used to analyzing people for weeks to make sure they’re bad.” Laila answered, her voice soft and her fingers played with the hummingbird skull necklace.

Jeff repressed a groan and looked to the couple in bed, walking closer and gently pulling the covers back, seeing a bruise on the woman’s cheek and stomach. Opening up a drawer in the nightstand, Jeff saw the amount of plan B and every trick to avoid pregnancy, but in the mix was a positive pregnancy test. The killer looked to Laila, although he didn’t know what the couple was like he nodded to the CP. “they’re bad people.”

Laila seemed conflicted, but didn’t question him, walking closer with the cooler to hold the organs, the cooler filled with ice. Jeff took this time to lock the door and moved to the man sleeping, glancing at Laila as she walked to the woman and nodded to Jeff. He crawled onto the bed and covered the man’s mouth with his hand, making the man twitch before waking up in a panic. Jeff left no time for the man to struggle as he stabbed his knife into the man’s neck, making blood gush from the wound. The woman woke up as Laila had her dagger to the woman’s chest, she began screaming but it was short lived as the knife quickly moved to her neck and cut a deep line across. Laila still looked shaken, concerned even. Jeff put a hand on her shoulder, making her jolt and turn to him.

“Laila, what is it with you? Do you always hesitate to kill?”

“No! Just..only if I don’t know them.” Laila muttered, almost shamefully. 

Jeff said nothing and began to cut open the man, mumbling. “Let’s just get the organs.”

She nodded and muttered softly. “Just let me look at them before you harvest.” 

The two started to cut open the dead couple, Laila being far more careful and tense then Jeff, but the killer having done this several times was quick with his cuts. “Yuck..wouldn’t bother with this guy’s kidney. His lungs however look good.”

“Then cut them out. I think we’ll take her heart and liver.” Laila said as she began cutting out the heart.

By the time they finished, Blood was oozing onto the floor and the two were covered in patches of blood, packing the organs into the cooler. Laila grimaced and Jeff couldn’t help but tease. “What princess? Can’t handle blood?”

“I can handle blood, I just don’t like to be drenched with it.” Laila huffed, flicking some blood off her hands. “Seriously..Edan could’ve given us gloves.”

“A little blood is good for the soul.” Jeff smirked, placing the lungs of the man into the cooler. “I think this is all we needed?”

Laila nodded and put the liver and heart into the cooler. “Yeah..do we have to clean up?”

“No that’s the best part!” Jeff smirked then poked her head. “Have you ever gone killing?”

“Uh..kind of? My mother taught me how to stalk while dad taught me how to kill and take out organs for Edan.” Laila said as she walked to the couple’s bathroom and washed her hands. “Ugh..hope I didn’t get any on my clothes.”

“You did, everyone gets blood on them when ripping out organs.” Jeff shrugged, grabbing the cooler. “Just take a shower when we get back. We don’t know if anyone is coming to see these two.” 

Laila mumbled, turning to Jeff and raised a brow seeing the blood spatter on his hoodie. “Seriously how are you ok with being covered in blood?”

“Just got used to it, now quit your bitching.” Jeff grumbled out, walking downstairs. “Going out the back door, we should move through the alleys.”

Laila didn’t object and quickly followed Jeff outside, walking beside him while he held the cooler. Yet, the younger CP kept messing around and flicking blood off herself. Jeff decided to try and distract her, tapping her shoulder to get her attention. “If Viper does know how these Specters work, do you think he actually knows where they’re coming from?”

“It’s possible..he’s a good proxy so maybe he knows how they’re appearing or being made. We’ll just have to wait and see.” Laila yawned, covering her mouth.

“Tired kiddo?” Jeff chuckled, but could feel his own yawn approaching.

“It’s sunrise, and I’m still sore, so yes.” Laila smiled. “I need to sleep, I hate not being able to fly.”

“You like it that much huh?” Jeff asked. “Your mom only flew for hunting.”

“I loved flying, I like feeling the air in my feathers and hair.” Laila sighed happily. “It’s like..nothing else you’d ever feel.”

“I’ll take your word for it, when you were flying around with me it was..more or less terrifying.” Jeff mumbled.

She giggled and skipped ahead. “Yes but it’s different when you’re the one in control of your own wings.”

Jeff just watched as Laila skipped around and spun, making the cape flutter behind her. He glanced at the cooler and thought to himself. He had only been here for about a week, this future wasn’t terrible but seeing these kids growing up without the CP’s..It was the same feeling of setting a piece of wood on fire and throwing it onto the coat cart of a train, while said train was driving towards a cliff that was over an oil station. A fucking mess, these kids probably haven’t even tapped into their killer instincts yet!

As the two arrived back, they saw Nash downstairs playing chess with Roxie, Cherry was watching while drinking a soda. Aya and Talon were still at the table, but both their heads shot up when hearing the door open. Laila walked in and looked around. “Where’s Edan?”

“Checking on Lorien.” Roxie answered, moving a knight on her side.

“He said that Lorien should be better now!” Nash smiled, looking over to Laila. “He said I get to be in charge of entertaining Lorien tonight!”

“Well that’s good.” Laila smiled, pecking the top of Nash’s head.

“We just decided to wait for you guys to get back, juuust in case a Specter came after you two.” Cherry giggled, letting out a yawn. 

“What are you two still doing?” Jeff asked, walking to the booth where Talon and Aya were.

“Still looking for spells.” Aya sighed. “We found a few spells that could work.”

“Lay it on me.” Jeff commented as he sat down.

Talon spoke, pushing a notepad to Jeff that was no doubt made by Roxie, judging by the knitted design cover of orchid. “Spell of origin. It’s one of the Chaos magic spells that can track anything at the price of blood and repetition words. You draw the sign in blood on a person and chant the words to it that make the person a puppet and walk to the origin of what you seek. It will only work for living things, and since the traitor is a CP..they’re technically alive.”

“Ok good, and what about spells to keep your energy up?” Jeff asked, looking at Aya.

“We found a couple, earth magic or ritual magic. With both I’ll need a couple days to myself, either getting energy from the forest or making a ritual room that I stay in for days.” Aya explained with a confident smile. “If we’re lucky, saving my energy and learning the spell should only take three to four days.”

“Well..that’s not bad.” Jeff mumbled to himself, it wasn’t bad timing but it wasn’t really ideal either. “Just do what you need to.”

“Got it.” Aya nodded and closed the book, yawning. “Time for bed.”

Talon nodded and his lips twitched up in a small smile, closing his notebook and going to Laila’s side to watch the chess game. Laila smiled and nuzzled her forehead to Talon’s cheek, continuing to watch the game. Jeff looked to the door when he heard it open, seeing Edan walk in and sigh. “Hey Edan, got the organs!”

“Oh, good.” Edan replied, spaced a little as he got closer and took the cooler. “thanks..Nash, you’re set to sleep in the garage if you’re ready.”

“Sweet!” Nash cheered, Cherry smirked as she whispered something to him, Nodding he proceeded by flipping the game board and pieces off the table and running off. “I win!”

“Nash! Someday you’ll actually have to finish the game!” Roxie shouted with Cherry howling in laughter, but the younger one paid no mind as he ran out.

“How is he Edan?” Laila asked with worry.

“He’s alright now, all he needs is rest. I think he’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.” Edan said calmly. “You can go see him if you'd like, but I’ll be locking everything up soon.”

“You’re leaving Nash out there all night?” Talon interjected, but was quickly pulled along by Laila.

“Come on Talon, he’ll be alright, let’s just say our goodnights.” Laila soothed, exiting the building.

Aya and Cherry helped Roxie pick up the game before the three went upstairs, chatting on their way to their rooms. Edan set the cooler on one of the tables, the tips of his pointed ears tilted down and his visible eye showed exhaustion in the red orb. He opened it up and nodded to himself, closing it up and looking at Jeff. “pleasure doing business. Tomorrow night I’ll go find Viper.”

“Sounds good.. You look stressed.” Jeff pointed out.

“It’s..a lot suddenly in only a couple days.” Edan confessed. “I’m sure you can relate.”

“Oh yeah I can..” Jeff’s eyes rolled a bit. “Seriously get some sleep.”

“I will.” Edan promised, walking to the hatch with the cooler while Jeff walked upstairs to sleep.

“Now stay warm Nash.” Laila fussed, wrapping Nash up like a burrito with a large blanket, the boy giggling as he squirmed.

“I will! I’m already warm with a giant demon as my pillow!” Nash giggled, leaning back on Lorien’s curled up form.

“Good to see you’re doing well too bud.” Talon said, scratching Lorien’s head, making the demon purr. 

“Si..” Lorien’s voice rumbled, leaning his head down and protectively curled around Nash.

Laila walked around and lightly touched the mark left from the scorpion specter, sighing softly. “I still don’t understand..specters..they’ve only been copies of humans.”

“Maybe Viper will have answers for us.” Talon said in an attempt to comfort her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Knowing him, he’s probably already dissected one and figured out how they tick.”

“I hope so.” Laila nodded then took his hand with a small smile, Talon returned the smile and led her out from the garage. The two walked in a blissful silence, walking inside and heading upstairs as Edan locked up the door.

“U-um Laila? May I..if you want-” Talon mumbled out, averting his eyes to the floor.

“What is it Talon?” Laila asked, grinning at his bashfulness. 

“Can I..stay with you? Just for this one-”

“Talon..you have no reason to ask, I would never say no.” Lala giggled, walking to her room and Talon following with his cheeks flushed red.

Laila slipped off her shoes as she slipped into her bed, laying on her stomach and taking off the cape. Talon joined her and looked at her wing with worry. “Do you want Aya to fix that up?”

“It’s only a sprain Talon, and she needs to save all her power right now.” Laila yawned, closing her eyes and resting her head down on the pillow. “Talon..could you just..pet my wings?”

He blinked in surprise as he laid a hand on her wings. “Are you sure? Won’t that hurt?”

“No, I like it when you pet my wings, you’re gentle about it.” Laila hummed, smiling into the pillow.

Hesitantly, he began petting her wings, gently and long strokes from the arches of the wings to as far as he could reach. Soon it became a rhythm, listening to her soft hums and her wings twitching under his touch. Seeing the wrap around her to keep the wings pinned down he glared as he thought back to the scorpion, laying closer to her and moving his hand around her waist. He whispered softly, resting his head on her shoulder. “I won’t let anything hurt you again.”

Unbeknownst to him, she was still awake, cracking an eye open to look at his sleeping face and curling closer to him. “I know..”

The next night came sooner than Edan wanted, standing in front of his vanity mirror as he looked over his figure. He saw no reason to change anything, but picked up his dark blue hoodie and slipped it over his form, knowing that Viper would notice him instantly in it. He fixed up his hair and used a tissue to wipe the black goop off his cheek from under his right eye and bangs. Why was he the one to find Viper? Why did he have to confront his ex? His ex boyfriend, stubborn ass proxy, anger inducing, sexy-  
His cheeks turned rosy as he shook away the thoughts and looked at the mirror, his cheeks filling up to a velvet red from embarrassment. He cupped his cold hands to his cheeks to try and soothe the heat and growled at the mirror to show his teeth. “No, you will not-I repeat- NOT forgive him for this!”

Edan grabbed his phone before walking out from the hatch, already seeing his staff cleaning up the place to get it ready and Damien called out. “Going out boss?”

“Yeah, I have to find someone. If I’m not back by 5 am just close everything up.” Edan ordered, walking to the door.

“Understood, don’t have too much fun~” Damien laughed, counting the till.

Although Damien didn’t have a clue what was going on, Edan’s cheeks still glowed red. The cold air was welcoming as he left the building, pulling his hood up as he walked through the alleyways. Thinking of where he encountered Viper last he made his way to the paper factory that shut down a few years ago, calling out carefully to not attract unwanted attention. “Viper? Viper are you here?”

Getting no response Edan leaned on the old factory door and shoved it open, walking up the nearest creaking steel steps to get to the second floor. There were windows broken, some intact but still cracked off in shards on the floor. Edan looked out to the city, but quickly noticed a long plank on the edge of the window and the other end strapped down to another roof. Most likely Viper connected the buildings for an escape or to lure the Specters there to fight. Edan strolled across it, thankful being so light that he barely shifted the plank. “Viper? Dustie?”

Edan slipped downstairs through the emergency exit of the building, seeing the lights all off but smelling a faint scent of fire. Edan followed his nose and it led him to the main floor, the building was put together but foreclosed, and in the wall there was a fireplace that was roaring with hot flames. “Viper I know you’re in here.”

The CP scowled when no response came, crossing his arms. “He couldn’t have just left-”

A hand covered his mouth, making Edan scream and grab the hand, pulling it off enough to sink his teeth into the figure's arm. There wasn’t a scream of pain but the person behind him started thrashing to get Edan off his arm. The CP quickly spun and faced a person, but seeing the orange goo gush from the bite wound, showed that it was a Specter. It took the form of an average human male and Edan took the chance to bite into the specter’s arm again, but it retaliated with a smack to Edan’s cheek. He fell to the ground but was just as quick rolling out of the way as the specter attempted to stab him with a kitchen knife. The eyes changed to show their orange color as it stalked closer to attack Edan.

Quickly the CP got to his feet, picking up a footstool from the ground and slamming it into the Specter. However Edan’s expression changed to panic as the specter's form changed, illuminated by the fire to show a medieval jouster, his knife shifting into a large sword. The same orange color glowed through the slit of the knights helmet, and through the chain link where skin would be is where orange also glowed. Almost like a phantom. Edan dodged as the sword swung and sliced into the coffee table, he grabbed the hot poker from the fireplace and impaled the knight with it, but jolted as the knight looked unfazed. “What the fuck are you?”

A dark, cruel and vicious grumble came from the knight as a large hand grabbed Edan’s hood and yanked the boy closer. Edan yelled out, throwing curses at the knight and squirmed out of the hoodie in time to run up the stairs. The knight followed, the poker still stuck within the armor as Edan quickly hid in one of the bedrooms and in the closet of the room. He took out his phone and hoped to god that Viper didn’t lose his as he texted frantically to his ex. “Son of a bitch, come home!”

The stomping got closer and Edan stuffed his phone back into his pocket, looking for anything to fight with. Looking up, Edan saw a hatch and hopped up, slipping into the attic space. He began crawling on the cross beams, trying to avoid falling through the fragile ceiling of wood. Edan let out a scream as the blade of the dark knight’s sword was shoved through the wood and in front of the boy’s face. He moved faster as the sword was removed, moving along the beams and finding another hatch and opening it. Dropping down he let out a grunt and ran back downstairs, only to scream as he ran into someone and squirmed to get away. “Edan it’s me!” 

Edan froze and looked at the masked man. “Dustie-”

The two jumped as the wall was broken through and the knight walked out, Viper moving Edan behind him protectively. Viper took out his FN 5.7x28mm gun and shot right through the helmet, making the specter jolts back and cover the hole. Edan covered his ears although they still rang from the first shot, Viper shot again and this time something shattered and the knight fell over. Edan hesitantly uncovered his ears as Viper stepped closer, picking up some shards of orange off the decaying knight.

The two said nothing until Viper stood again and turned to Edan. The CP got a good look at his ex, commenting softly. “You’ve cleaned yourself up a lot..”

It wasn’t a lie, before they split Viper wore an old hoodie and black pants with some red sneakers. However now Viper actually looked cleaned up, his fluffy hickory hair poking out from behind his white mask with raspberry red sockets. He was now wearing a marigold hoodie with dark blue jeans with black hiking boots. Viper was at a total height of 6 foot 1, and there were poorly wrapped bandages that held his blood stained clothes to his body, one wrapping around his left arm and another around his right calf. However there were various spots on his body where there were holes and cuts in his clothes that were sewn up and stained with blood as well.

Removing his mask, his skin was still a warm ivory color, and his sugar brown eyes looked over Edan. His voice rich and husky and on the sides of his face were adorned with sideburns. “Edan why are you here? How did you even find me?”

“Not that it was hard..you always had a thing for abandoned places.” Edan shrugged and walked downstairs, grabbing his hoodie and wrapping the sleeves around his waist. “I’m surprised you got my text..”

“I was only getting food when you texted.” Viper replied, motioning his hand to the grocery bag he left on the floor near the door. “I’m surprised you even had my number.”

“Never get rid of contacts you could use.” Edan gave a smug smirk and showed his phone. “I keep all my living clients.”

Viper glared and stomped closer. “Why are you here? If you’re trying to get those organs-”

“Oh please, I’m not that shallow.” Edan scoffed, stuffing his phone into his pocket and walked to the couch. Laying himself down on it he looked at Viper with a sigh. “Laila and the others are crashing at my club. And..you’re not going to believe me but Jeff the killer, our Jeff came from the past to find a traitor. Supposedly, the same person making these Specter’s was the same person that killed our family.”

Viper’s eyes were hard to read, a whirlwind of emotions. Edan rolled his eyes, getting up and walking up to Viper. “Look, I personally don’t want you near my home, but if you have information on the Specters then tell the others..”

“Who exactly is there?” Viper suddenly snapped out of his trance.

“Everyone except Malik, they’re on the task of finding him.” Edan replied. “Now, are you coming or not?”

Viper nodded and grabbed the groceries. “Come on, I’ll teleport us part way.”

A disgusted look crossed Edan’s face as he huffed, lifting his chin up. “I’d rather walk out in the cold thank you.”

“It wasn’t a request.” Viper snarled, placing his mask on before grabbing Edan’s wrist and teleporting the two across the street from the club. To which Edan wrenched his arm away and huffed, walking across with Viper. “Didn’t need to be so rough.”

“If I remember right, you like me best when I’m violent.” Viper smirked as Edan walked faster to get inside.


	11. Playing Policy

“Viper!” Cherry screamed in delight, hugging the proxy in a tight hug.

Edan decided to close down the business for the next couple days, claiming it was for maintenance. It was now after closing at 4am, the group of CP’s were all in the garage with the doors closed and lights on. Lorien licked Viper’s head in affection, while Viper struggled to get out of Cherry’s grasp.

“Y-yeah missed you all too! Fucking-get off!” Viper wheezed out, teleporting out of her arms to catch his breath. “How’s..how’s Malik?”

“Good, he sends us mail of his travels. His last postcard was from Alaska.” Roxie smiles. “But now, Aya is going to find a spell to track him.”

“Viper, do you know anything about these Specters that we might not know?” Jeff asked, getting straight to the point.

The proxy crossed his arms, pushing his mask up as he said clearly. “Well, Specters can only retain a form for so long. Lately they’ve been more active, and constantly attacking me. They don’t speak, they can make payments but that’s about it. It’s like they’re..eyes for someone.”

Aya’s golden eyes widened then she muttered out, gaining everyone’s attention. “That would make sense..whoever Jeff is hunting down is probably watching us.”

“If that’s true, why not attack him directly?” Edan asked, drinking from a soda bottle.

“They have.” Nash commented. “They attacked me and him, and Lorien when we were flying to meet Cherry and the others. Maybe the traitor thought we were dead all this time?”

“Aya, tell them about your findings with the gems.” Talon encouraged, looking to everyone. “While we were looking at spells, Aya decided to try and find out what the gems were infused with.”

Aya took out the red and yellow gemstones, placing them on the ground. “This garnet has tracker magic, or dark magic, somehow someone knew one of us would go back to look at the damage of the mansion again. This person knows who we are and is hunting us now. And if they have magic of this sort and the gems to make more specters, that could only mean that they are from the under realm.”

“But in the under realm..Talon, you never saw someone suspicious right?” Laila asked, looking at Talon with worry. “For that matter, where are they getting these gems?”

He shook his head. “no..I wish I could remember but I never really interacted with anyone besides my parents. As far as the gems go I could only think that the person is getting them from the archives, unless they can produce the gems themselves.”

“It might have been a criminal that Zalgo harbored.” Jeff suggested. “The first bitch I had to go after went through a wormhole into the past. She was a criminal that trained her magic until the right time, but was trying to use other magic gems.”

“Or it could’ve been a CP that was loyal to Zalgo.” Aya commented and sighed. “This is a damn mess..Viper is there anything else?”

“Not much, you guys know how it dies.” Viper shrugged. “They’re just puppets. I’ve been trying to track down where they’ve been coming from but can’t find anything. But when you told me about a scorpion Specter..that just seems..”

“Ridiculous?” Roxie added. “We’ve never seen one before! It was chaos at the fair!”

Lorien let out a low groan and nodded in agreement with Roxie, whimpering a little. The air grew tense as everyone went quiet, but Jeff cleared his throat. “Hey kids take it easy..starting tomorrow Aya has some tasks for us, she’s going to focus her magic and has some stuff for us to do. But for now, I think we need the night to relax.”

“I agree!” Nash called out. “We should play a game! I have a chemical kit!”

“No, no chemicals in my building.” Edan snapped sternly. “I don’t need my home on fire.”

“I see that you’ve been drained of fun.” Viper sneered at Edan, making the half-hylian boy stand.

“Say that again you pomous-”

“Boys!” Roxie called out then said softly. “You know..I’ve actually been wondering. Jeffy, what would our killer names be?”

Jeff raised a brow as attention was all on him. “Well..it’s based on how you kill or what you kill for.”

“Oh! I would want to be known as Nitrome!” Nash said quickly, waving his arms. “Nash Nitrome! Explosives expert!”

Laila giggled and tousled Talon’s hair. “You know Talon I can imagine you being something like. “The night hunter.”

“There’s too many killers with that sort of name.” Talon huffed, but nudged her playfully. “I could see you as the Angel Reaper.”

“I know what I would be called.” Cherry giggled. “Cackling Cherry~!”

“Sounds a bit clunky..” Aya smiled but admitted softly. “I feel like I’d want something phantom like..like..”

“Oh!” Roxie called out. “How about Golden Wraith? Or Spirit of the forest!”

“And for Roxie, I kinda see a sewing maniac.” Viper joked, getting elbowed in the side by Jeff.

“Actually I was thinking Snippy Roxie~” Roxie purred with a menacing grin and snipping her scissors for emphasis.

“What about you Edan?” Cherry giggled out. “What would your name be? Eyeless Edan?”

“Wouldn’t work, he still has one eye.” Aya commented.

“Plus that would just copy my dad.” Edan shrugged. “Probably a title like Edan the Maneater.”

“Maneater indeed~” Talon teased, gaining a laugh from the girls while Nash looked confused and the guys looked very surprised by Talon’s joke.

Jeff smiled a bit and shrugged. “You guys still have time to figure it out.”

“Hey, how about we go in and have our own dance party!” Cherry said as she stood up. “Edan you know how to DJ right?”

“Yeah?” Edan answered skeptically, but yelped as she took hold of his wrists and swung him around, others having to move to not get trampled.

“Then let’s have a dance party! One last hurrah!” Cherry giggled.

“Cherry, it won’t be our last party, but I agree.” Laila replied, standing up. “Why not dance? We have a couple hours before sunrise.”

“I’m in!” Nash called out, getting up and running out the garage side door to get to the club, Roxie and Cherry chasing after him.

“It could be fun.” Talon shrugged as he stood. “What about you Jeff?”

“Eh I might go in to have a drink, never been one for dancing.” Jeff responded as he stood up and walked to the door. He only glanced back when he heard Viper scoff.

“How childish.” 

“Oh? This is childish? So it’s not childish to run away without telling us where you were?” Edan scowled, leaving the garage with Laila and Talon.

Viper glared, his teeth grit together and Jeff asked. “Seriously why did you go hunting specters?”

When the boy’s glare moved to the floor and his mask was pulled down over his face Jeff could hear him growl. “I was doing it for everyone..”

Jeff quickly put in the pieces and said calmly. “You stayed around the city to keep the Specters away from Edan..”

“So what? The little bitch doesn’t respect anything I do.” Viper snarled and stormed past Jeff, actually pushing him aside as he stepped out from the garage.

The girls were already situated with fixing the lights and turning the dance floor on while Edan got onto the stage, looking through the disks and songs available. Nash was mainly stepping on green lights as they lit up on the dancefloor, while Talon was double checking the speaker connections. Viper seated himself at the bar and Jeff watched with a content smirk. Aya levitated herself through the wall, popping her head back out and giving the thumbs up.

“Lights are set to random!”

“Roxie, could you make sure the dance floor lights are on the setting called Rhythm?” Edan called out, not looking up from his Mixer.

“On it!”

“You and dad never really danced much huh?” Cherry suddenly said right next to Jeff, making the killer jump a good few inches in the air as he turned to her.

“H-huh? Oh, um no not really. Dancing was not really our thing.” Jeff replied, scratching the back of his head. “Your..LJ used to sing lullabies to me to calm me down but we never danced.”

Cherry giggled. “I remember daddy singing to me and Malik almost every night~ I miss that.”

Jeff patted her head and promised. “When I get back to my own time I’ll make sure that traitor doesn’t screw up our future.”

She giggled again, running to the dance floor and took Nash’s hands. The music began soft but Edan put on the headset and started changing the pace to being more upbeat, the kids gathering to dance. Jeff sat at the booth and watched happily, even Edan was smiling as he nodded his head to the music. The only one that didn’t look like they were having fun was Viper, but all his attention seemed to be on Edan. Gears turned slowly, then picked up as Jeff thought out a plan, then stood up and yelled. “Hey Aya! get over here!”

Aya looked over and ran over, smiling and sitting in the booth. “What is it Jeffy?”

Jeff grumbled, but shook it away. “I have an idea for how we’re splitting jobs up.”

Aya leaned closer as he whispered his idea into her ear and giggled a couple times, waiting till he finished before asking. “I understand some of the tasks..but with you and Roxie..A-are you sure this will work?”

“Better than nothing, besides if Roxie and I go looking for the specters then maybe we can find out where they’re coming from.” Jeff explained. “And if not, at least Edan can take one apart and maybe we can use the specter for our own purposes.”

“So you’re saying we should use a specter to track down the traitor? But Jeff, imitation magic is..well it’s something that takes a lot of magic. Even if I get a lot of strength in the next couple days it will only be enough to track Malik, then I need a couple more days to find the traitor.” Aya replied. “It’s a magic that continues to drain you so long as you control the creature or item.”

“Well I still think that it would be best to track these things as much as possible.” Jeff huffed.

“But why not just send Viper? He’s been tracking them for the longest time.” Aya suggested.

“He said that he couldn’t find the source. If he couldn’t before, maybe some new eyes are needed for this. Besides I want Viper to stay and try to connect with everyone again. Do you know who his best friend was before the CP’s vanished?” 

“Malik and Edan..” Aya said sadly. “Malik was his training partner and well..Edan was of course even closer.”

“Damn my kid left an impression on everyone didn’t he?” Jeff questioned.

“Yeah..he was special and understanding to everyone. To me he was..like the big brother I never had. While with Viper the two trained with each other and would spar.”

Jeff nodded and said. “You have to trust me on this then ok? Tomorrow I will go with Roxie to find the specters. Everyone else will stay here to make sure you get what you need and that we prepare ourselves for fighting Specters.”

“Who will lead the training?” Aya asked. “Are you going to ask Laila to train everyone?”

“No, I’m going to talk to Viper.” Jeff replied, but seeing the doubtful look on Aya’s face made him comment. “What? He’s a proxy, training is in his blood.”

“Well yeah but he’s not very patient.” Aya shrugged. “He’s got a temper, even if it has died down a bit as he aged.”

“Just leave it to me kid.” Jeff smirked as he got up and walked over to the bar counter. “Hey Viper, I need to ask you something.”

“What do you want ass?” Viper scoffed, looking at Jeff but leaving his mask down. 

“Damn, you got a knife up your ass or something?” Jeff growled, sitting on one of the bar stools. “Look I need you to train the others how to fight.”

“What are you talking about? They already know how to fight.” Viper shrugged off.

“I mean learn how to fight Specters.” Jeff snapped. “They need to learn or they’ll get injured again, just like Laila and Cherry already were. I don’t think I’m asking too much for you to just share some of your knowledge.”

He continued to stare at the proxy until the younger man snarled and looked away. “Alright alright, but why can’t you teach them?”

“Because Roxie and I will be gone. Also, make sure you’re not too tough on them ok?”

“Ok, ok, shut your trap I get it.” Viper hissed, keeping his eyes on the stage.

Jeff glanced up to where Edan stood and then back to the proxy. “You know what CP’s used to do in my generation when they liked someone?”

At first the question seemed to be ignored but then Viper turned to him and he pushed his mask up. “no..I’m not sure..”

“Well there were a couple ways..I mean LJ just annoyed me day in and day out with no signs of letting me go. Then there were CP’s that confronted each other and they fucked like rabbits. Or you can do the mushy shit like humans do and go out on dates.” Jeff explained. 

“Uhh..sure Jeff..” Jeff would’ve laughed at Vipers disturbed expression but he said nothing as Viper continued. “Look I dated Edan because he understood me, he would always patch me up when I got fucked up and would listen to my problems. At first I thought it was all friendly gestures but then..”

“Then you actually fell for him.” Jeff finished. “Couldn’t you just say you’re sorry?”

Viper glared at Jeff and growled. “I fucked him and then left the next day. Do you think anyone could forgive that?”

Jeff wasn’t going to lie, that was a dick move. “Uh no..but still, I think Edan still cares about you. Maybe you just need to appeal to him.”

“What the hell are you implying?” Viper started then snarled. “If you’re saying I should bend down onto my knees and beg then forget it!”

“No I just mean do like..” Jeff sighed. “Ok whenever I got mad at LJ, like really mad, he would appeal to me by singing or taking me out to kill. Or we would fight until both of us needed to see EJ for a patch job. Haven’t you two fought before?”

“No! never! “ Viper snapped. “That’s what I don’t get! He’s always been understanding of me whenever I had to leave for a mission, or when I was hurt. Sure he would scold me and say I was stupid for doing something, but we’ve never fought!” 

“Oh..” What kind of advice could he give for that? “Well..what does Edan like a lot? Maybe you can apologize to him in a different way?”

Viper sighed and pulled his mask down. “It’s pointless, Edan is not going to forgive me no matter what I do..I’ve already agreed to train the others so just fuck off.”

Jeff decided not to fight him on this, seeing that he’s already opened a wound with Viper. “Alright..thanks I guess.”

Getting back at the booth, Aya looked at him with a sheepish smile. “So..did the talk go well?”

“Well for training yeah, he’s going to teach you guys.” Jeff shrugged, not sitting down. “I’m gonna head to bed, you kids don’t stay up too long.”

“We won't~” Aya giggled, getting out of the booth and running back onto the neon floor.

Jeff quickly ascended upstairs, looking down for a moment and smiling at the kids as they danced to the beat of the music. With any luck, it’s possible Viper has experienced the Killer Instinct and would be able to tell the others how to engage it in combat. He didn’t want to admit it, but he worried about their ability to fight. Laila seemed uncomfortable, Nash is still inexperienced, and he had no idea how Roxie and Aya would fight. Cherry, Viper, and Edan may be able to hold their own, yet he couldn’t think about it confidently. He would just have to sleep and see what happens tomorrow.

When the sun fell and Laila had forced everyone to wake up at 7pm, everyone lazily gathered downstairs while she made breakfast in the Club’s kitchen. Aya at the time was detailing jobs for everyone. “Jeff and Roxie are going to be tracking the specters while Edan prepares his lab to hold one and dissect it IF Jeff and Roxie manage to capture one. I need Cherry to help me set up for my next couple days on energy confinement, and both Talon and Nash will be collecting supplies for me and for the Chaos Ritual. Viper and Laila will equally work to be training everyone in combat later today.”

“Wait, this is your fucking important mission?” Viper snarls at Jeff. “I could be hunting Specters.”

Jeff was about to retaliate but Edan put a hand on his shoulder to stop him and smirked at the proxy. “What’s this I hear? Viper are you cowardly backing out from training? I thought you got out of that habit.”

“Shut your mouth slut!” Viper growled, making Edan stand up.

“Edan, it’s not worth it!” Cherry shouted and quickly wrapped her arms around the boy to hold him back.

“He started it!” Edan snapped, but slowly sat back down.

Laila smacked the back of Viper’s head with her wing as she came back with plates balanced on both arms, handing them out. “Alright enough of that boys. Aya, what exactly do you need for this ritual?”

“To get energy I decided to go with Earth Magic. So what I’ll need is some supplies to camp outside. A tent, fire starter, just some basic things. But I need to connect with the forest so I can’t have any electronics.” Aya explained.

“Are you sure that’s the best option?” Roxie asked with a worried tone. “What if you get in trouble? What if a specter attacks you?”

“I plan to have someone to protect me..” Aya muttered. “I think I’ll bring Cherry along.”

“Hmm~ I think it would be better to take Lorien. He’s probably looking for some revenge.” Cherry giggled as she began to devour her breakfast.

“What do we get?” Nash asked, although still sleepy he sounded eager, rubbing his eye with his sleeve and smiling.

“Our job will be collecting items like blood and incense.” Talon explained to Nash. “the book shows that by finding symbols that relate to our culture and demon symbols we can summon whatever we want. Lorien will be helping us speak the demon tongue and the ritual will require a sacrifice. Since we’re specifically using the spell to track Malik, we’ll need some of Cherry’s blood and we’ll need to speak the demon language.”

“Right.” Aya nodded. “And, if it works, we’ll supposedly have a small sprite or spirit to lead us to Malik or lead Malik here. With the Garnet I think I can drain the dark magic from it as well.”

“And if that doesn’t work?” Jeff brings up hypothetically.

“Well there’s another chaos ritual that will allow me to teleport to where Malik is, then I can just call you guys.” Aya shrugged. “We’ll figure it out..But there is one other thing I need done..”

Her eyes turned to Viper and Edan, who sat opposite of each other and they both gave a strange stare back at her. However, Edan was the first to speak, disliking being stared at. “What? Do I need to do something else?”

“It’s actually..the both of you..” Aya muttered out, glancing at Jeff to check if he was still sure about this.

While Jeff knew them having sex wouldn’t be necessary, it would at least help them clear this tension they’ve kept up with for so long. He nodded to Aya and took the torch from there to save her some embarrassment. “Aya needs two people to make a wish during..intimate intercourse.”

Laila gasped, thankful that Jeff used more appropriate terms for Nash’s sake, but still was shocked by the implication. Talon was too busy choking on his waffle to say anything and Roxie’s pink eyes grew wide before she sputtered and laughed. Nash was simply too confused by everyone’s reaction, and too tired, to care and continued to eat. Aya’s cheeks were bright red as Edan and Viper’s jaws dropped in shock before both stood up and shouted.

“No fucking way!”

“Never in a million years!”

Jeff sighed. “I don’t care if you two don’t like the idea, you just need to..get to the end and make a wish to help with either Aya getting her magic back into full strength or a wish to make Malik appear sooner. Apparently you have to make a wish as soon as you guys achieve stimulation.”

Edan’s cheeks were bright red that rivaled his red pupil. “And why should we do it?!”

“Because you two are the only ones to actually had intercourse in your time, and I am not fucking a stranger out on the street.” Jeff grumbled. “I don’t care if you two need blindfolds, just get it done.”

Viper sat back down with a huff, turning to Aya. “And..it’s needed? You need this to happen?”

Aya let out a squeak and nodded quickly. “O-oh yeah it’s um..if it’s not done during one of my spells then it uh..”

Laila quickly caught on with this whole charade and pitched in. “I get it, because it’s one of the strongest magics right?”

“Yes!” Aya agreed quickly. “It’s a strong magic but the magic only works in the few seconds when you guys finish!”

Edan gently pushed his plate away before slamming his head on the table and wrapped his arms under his mouth to let out an aggravated scream. “Fuck my life!”

“Alright enough of the drama, let’s eat and get going.” Jeff practically demanded, just wanting to get this quest over with.

The CP’s ate, occasional conversations crossed the table of what they were doing for the past two years, the only ones not speaking being Viper and Edan. The cannibal boy was first to finish, declaring that he had an appointment today for a surgery and quickly excused himself. Roxie and Jeff were next to be finished, the two quickly leaving the building and Roxie let out a yawn while stretching.

“Jeffy, I’m curious. Why am I going to hunt with you?” Roxie asked. “Why not Viper?”

Jeff thought and replied with a shrug. “I’m just curious about what you can do. Plus I wanted to ask if any of the kids ever experienced Killer Instincts.”

Roxie hummed a bit as she walked with him. “No..can’t say we have..I don’t think we have experienced it because we were protected by Malik and Laila..you know..maybe Malik has, Laila was always too tired to kick into overdrive. Malik was always doing the major fighting, he might have had it before. But the Killer Instinct can only be activated if we’re at our last resolve or we need to protect something with our lives.”

“Or like me, when you’re blinded with rage..” Jeff grumbled. “Well what do you do to fight?”

“Fighting isn’t in my regime..” Roxie muttered. “I prefer capturing my victims and then take them apart for my dolls.”

“What do you use as weapons?” Jeff asked, looked at her as she giggled.

“These~” She purred, holding up two scissors, one being a surgical scissor and the other being normal sewing scissors. “Like I said, I’m used to my victims being incapped.”

“Yeah..but I don’t think those will work well with the specters when they go into armor form.” Jeff commented. 

“We’ll see~” Roxie giggled again, putting her scissors down and brushing her dress off.

“What’s the point of the vintage dress?” Jeff asked, pointing at her 50’s style dress.

“What? I like the year these clothes were made!” Roxie replied as she spun and her dress flared out a bit. “So how do we find the specters when they blend into the crowd?”

“Look for anyone that’s out of the ordinary I guess.” Jeff suggested. “There are plenty of people out at night so let’s just hope that a specter is dumb enough to confront us.”

The two continued walking, Roxie basking in the bright lights of the city, while Jeff remained focused on the crowd. He left his hood up as they got to thicker crowds and he had to occasionally drag Roxie away from a store. “Roxie, did you inherit either of your parents abilities?”

“Abilities? Like what?” Roxie asked, her pink eyes staring at it.

“Well Candypop was kind of like LJ when it came to jumping out of nowhere. And Jason’s toys came to life when he needed them, not to mention when he got pissed off he would morph into some monster.” Jeff responded. “Have you noticed anything?”

“Nothing like that. I have Candypop’s looks and flexibility but I can’t control dolls or anything like that.” Roxie shrugged. “Either that or I haven’t learned how to..”

Jeff nodded a bit and kept an eye out, joking a bit. “Maybe I should just yell out to the specters.”

Roxie’s grin grew and she nodded. “That’s not a bad idea..” She commented before running towards the street and jumping right into the road.

“Roxie! What the fuck are you doing?!” Jeff shouted, chasing after her, but stopped at the edge of the sidewalk and watched as Roxie lept onto one of the cars.

The driver must have seen Roxie, because the driver hit the brakes fast, resulting in several cars to crash into the first. The blue haired girl laughed like a maniac as she jumped to the next passing car, which stopped seeing her and the car spun sideways. Roxie flipped off the car, doing a cartwheel down the road that was now covered in stopped cars, climbing onto the top of a semi-truck. “Hey Specters~! The CP’s are waiting for you! Come on! We want to play!”

Jeff stared awestruck and glanced around him at the civilians, seeing several confused while the ones coming out of their cars looked mad or terrified. The killer quickly ran over to the truck and called out. “Roxie I think we should go!”

“Why? Am I too loud?” Roxie asked. “Here I’ll fix that. HEY SPECTERS!”

Jeff climbed up the semi-truck and tried to grab her but she only flipped out of his reach and hopped off the end of the truck. He felt embarrassed chasing after a little pre-teen that was drawing more attention then he needed. She continued to flip and twirl until she reached the sidewalk again and skipped into one of the nearby alleyways, Jeff quickly following her and finding himself out of breath when she finally stopped.

“I think we got the attention of any specters in the area~” Roxie snickered, hearing yells and sirens in the distance.

“Y-you could’ve..” Jeff coughed out. “Got us in a lot of trouble..damn your fast..”

Roxie teased, nudging Jeff’s side. “Aw come on Jeffy, you can’t be that out of shape. I remember you chasing Malik and Cherry all around the mansion.”

“You clearly can’t see how fast you are..” Jeff scoffed and stood up tall. “Seriously, be more careful. Even if people think we don’t exist we don’t need to have trouble with the police too.”

“But don’t you think it worked?” Roxie commented. “Those sirens and that mess would catch anyone’s eye.

“We’ll have to find out, for now we should move away from the mess.” Jeff replied. “If nothing else, if you managed to catch a Specter’s attention we shouldn’t fight them in such a tight area.”

Roxie whined but followed him through the alley way. “Fiiiine. I thought you were a bit more carefree than this Jeff.”

“I have to make sure you don’t get killed with such reckless actions.” Jeff scoffed. “LJ and Candypop we’re reckless as hell…”

“But why can’t I-” Roxie started but stopped as she saw a figure in front of them.

It looked like a normal human, but as it stepped towards them saying nothing, Jeff took out his knife. “Good job Roxie..you managed to attract a Specter.”


	12. Killer's Rage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whew, ok everyone just a heads up, I'm gonna try to upload my next chapter in the next four days but my laptop is imploding. And for those that threw in requests I'm still working on them as well, I have my college classes starting again next monday but I'll try to stay on top of things

The Specter stopped and looked around before allowing shadows to envelop its body and it changed into a much smaller figure. Rather than being covered in armor the Specter changed to what looked like an archer, wearing a black hooded cloak that covered it’s head. The body of the Specter was in medieval black tunic and it’s eyes glowed orange under the hood. In comparison to the other Specters, this one didn’t have much orange glowing from under its clothes, instead only it’s eyes glowed along with the orange arrows that were in the quiver on the archer’s back. It pulled off a black spiked bow that had two large orange blades at the ends of the bow and notched an arrow to the string.

Jeff moved a hand back and waved Roxie off. “Get out of here Roxie, this guy will be no problem..”

“You sure Jeffy?” Roxie asked, her eyes narrowing as the Specter arched its back and aimed an arrow.

“It won’t be an issue.” Jeff confirmed and ran towards the Specter, quickly slipping down to avoid the arrow it fired.

As Jeff jumped at the archer, he missed as the archer spun and shot another arrow at Jeff, barely missing the killer’s head as Jeff rolled out of the way. Another arrow fired and Jeff dived behind a garbage bin for cover. The archer then turned to Roxie and aimed an arrow but she had looped her arm into the bow and forced the arrow to shoot into the ground as the Specter and her struggled for the bow. Roxie continued to try and pull the bow away, but the Specter made a swipe at her with a dagger and Jeff ran up behind him. Letting go of the bow the Specter spun and slashed the end of the bow at Jeff, cutting across his chest and a thin line of blood seeped through his hoodie.

Roxie glared as she jumped on the Specter, tugging it’s hood farther down to cover the eyes, making the figure struggle and grab her arms to pull her off. As the bow fell Jeff picked it up and charged at the Specter in an attempt to stab it with it’s own bow, but the blade and end just went through the Specter with no effect making Jeff back away and snap. “Seriously?! That’s cheating!”

Roxie squeaked as the shadow figure threw her off and threw its dagger at her, hitting her square in the stomach. Jeff glared at the Specter and dropped the bow, taking out his own knife and charging at the figure. The shadow creature only retaliated with grabbing Jeff’s shoulders and flipping himself over the killer to retrieve its bow. It only just fired an arrow as Jeff swung his arm and threw the knife straight at the bow, the blade cutting through the string and stabbing into the supposed neck of the Specter. It let out a loud screech, sounding like a cross of a cat’s screech of pain and a hawk, as it reached to the knife to take it out.

Jeff took this time to run over to Roxie, who was on her knees and looking at her ruined dress that was beginning to get stained with blood and the knife still embedded in her stomach. She was frozen in place and Jeff grabbed her shoulder. “Roxie come on we need to move.”

“My dress..” Roxie mumbled, and Jeff noticed her eyes beginning to water.

“I know but we can’t stick around-” Jeff heard a loud twang noise and wrapped his arms around Roxie as he felt something sharp hit his back.

Roxie gasped and looked at the killer, snapping out of her trance as she looked to the arrow in Jeff’s back, seeing the tip of the arrow head poking out from his chest through the hoodie. “Jeffy!”

Jeff heard another twang and rolled to the side with Roxie, holding a hiss from the pain and getting up slowly. Roxie glared at the Specter, who held a new bow and had Jeff’s knife on its side attached to its belt. She tore the shadow dagger out of her stomach and ran at the Specter, it tried to shoot an arrow right at her but she flipped over it and threw it at the Specter, but just like the bow it only phased through the body. However the Specter was caught off guard and Roxie took out her sewing scissors and stabbed the scissors into the shadow’s head, making it scream once more. “How dare you! This was my favorite dress!”

At this time she wasn’t even looking for the Specter’s gem, only trying to beat it up by ripping out the scissors and stabbing it into the right arm of the Specter. Orange blood seeped out from its wounds and Jeff watched in shock as rage consumed Roxie, the young girl taking out her surgical scissors and cut off one of the fingers of the left hand that moved to stop her. “Roxie stop!”

She didn’t listen, continuing to climb over the Specter and repeatedly stab it and make cuts into its fingers and arms. The figure kept letting out a glass-cracking scream as it struggled to throw her off, but only stumbled onto its back in the process. Jeff hurried over as quick as he could with the arrow planted into his chest, feeling blood seep through and even making it harder to breathe. He managed to grab her and pull Roxie off before looking at the bleeding Specter and stomping his foot onto the left leg and breaking the shadow’s leg. It screamed and took off Jeff’s knife from its belt and swiped at Jeff, but he only slammed his heel into the Specter’s right leg and smirked as it shrieked from the cracking of it’s crystal bones.

Roxie continued to squirm but Jeff grabbed his knife back from the Specter before storing it into his hoodie pocket and looking at the CP girl. “Roxie cut it out! It can’t hurt us now!”

After shaking her a bit her pink eyes finally focused on Jeff and she let out a gasp of pain and covered her stomach. “Jeffy? What happened? I blacked out- what happened to the Specter?”

Jeff glanced at the shadow, seeing it trying to crawl away but Jeff only stepped on it’s back to keep it down. “Roxie, you just experienced your first Killer Instinct.”

“I-I did?” Roxie muttered, crouching a bit as she groaned. “But..how?”

“Well what do you remember before blacking out?” Jeff groaned and knelt down to pick up the Specter over his shoulder, to which it squirmed and tried to claw at Jeff’s back.

“Jeffy, let’s get you back to the club, you’re bleeding out..” She whined and looked at her wound. “Oh my dress..”

Jeff nodded and walked with her and held the Specter tightly to his shoulder, stumbling a bit but continued to walk. “Your dress, what’s so important about it?”

“My dad Jason made it for me before I left home..over the years I tailored it to keep it..” Roxie explained with a shaky smile as her fingers caressed the fabric where the blood was staining.

Injured, worn, and still trying to stay out of the line of humans, they slowly made their way back to the club with the Specter still thrashing. At some point the Specter ripped out the arrow from Jeff, making him stagger and Roxie had to help him stay straight. Once arriving though Roxie immediately ran to Edan’s lab to get his help. Jeff slowly followed but was heavily debating killing the Specter now rather than letting it be dissected. However, Edan ran up the stairs and helped Jeff bring the Specter into the lab.

“Set it on the table.” Edan ordered, Jeff following his command and Edan strapping the Specter down tight. He also brought over a bright hospital lamp and shined it right over the Specter, the shadow monster shrieking before finally stilling and its eyes closed.

“What happened to it?” Jeff asked, moving to a hospital bed and sitting on it.

“Viper told me that Specter’s appear less in the day, something about light makes them weaker and go into a form of sleep. Henceforth, they keep to the shadows or forest.” Edan explained and walked over to Roxie first, who was lying down under orders. “I’ll get you guys fixed up in a jiffy..mind telling me what caused your wounds?”

“Knife..” Roxie said then lifted up both hands in front of her at a distance from each hand. “About this big.”

“Arrow got me..” Jeff growled as he laid down. “Went right through my lung I think.”

“Fuck..ok. I’m going to have to put you two to sleep for a bit.” Edan said as he took a needle out of one of his tool trays and injected the substance into Roxie’s arm before going to Jeff to do the same.

Jeff watched him and muttered. “You fucking find out what you can about that thing..”

Edan nodded and proceeded to inject the liquid into Jeff’s arm, the killer grunting softly as he felt his vision blur. “Don’t worry..I got it..”

Outside, only at the corner of the forest, Cherry and Aya finished putting a tent up with a sleeping bag inside and the two were now securing the perimeter with barbed wire. The wire coiled around six trees, leaving a good amount of space for the tent and Aya’s ritual circle. Aya only had her book and looked around the forest with concern, the clown killer noting this hesitation as she finished wrapping the wire around her area. “Something on your mind Aya?”

“I’m..scared.” Aya confessed, sitting in the dirt circle she made in front of the tent for her rituals. “I guess the idea of being alone..”

Cherry smiled softly and patted her friend's head. “Don’t worry, we’ll come check on you as often as possible. The barb wire should help and if nothing else you can use your magic and take an extra day to regain it. And Lorien will be here to protect you.”

“I just don’t want to trouble Jeff..” Aya admits. “He seems so anxious to go home.”

“Can’t really blame him, this isn’t his time period.” Cherry shrugged, then looked out to the city as she saw Talon and Nash making their way over. “Hey you two!”

“Hey Cherry!” Talon called back, his hands holding a box as he carefully walked over the barbed wire. “I think we got everything, Nash go ahead and set up the stones around the ring.”

“Got it!” Nash said, jumping over the wire and opening one of his jacket pockets and taking out several opal gemstones of white and black.

“Opals?” Cherry asked, watching as Aya sat in the middle of the ring and helped Nash place the gemstones around her.

“Opals are said to have magical properties.” Aya smiled and playfully ruffled Nash’s hair. “Thanks bud.”

Nash smiled and chuckled as he squirmed from her hand and Talon knelt down, taking a blood bag out from the box and handing it to Aya. “I wasn’t sure if you needed blood just to gain magic so I grabbed it from one of the hospitals. We also got some candles, incense, a lighter, and some snacks for you. I hope the bottle is large enough too.”

“Thanks.” Aya nodded, looking through the box and grabbing out what she needed. “Cherry, I will need some of your blood.”  
“Got it.” Cherry said as she sat outside of the circle and held her hand out for Aya.

The phantom-like girl used her strings to pick up a small decorative bottle and opened the glass top, using one of the strings and focusing her energy to sharpen one as it quickly slashed across Cherry’s index finger. The clown girl flinched but let Aya turn her hand to let the blood drip off her finger into the small bottle.

“Why do you need Cherry’s blood again?” Nash asked as he sat on the ground and began to rock back and forth.

“I need it if Malik still hasn’t shown up.” Aya said, waiting until the bottle was at least a quarter filled before moving Cherry’s hand away. “Is Lorien on his way?”

“I can call him.” Talon said, leaving the perimeter before letting out a loud and sharp whistle. Staring at the city as he waited and Cherry wrapped up her finger with a bandaid.

“How will we know what symbols to use?” Nash asked, watching as Aya took out her book and began to flip through the book.

“Well I’m hoping Lorien will know.” Aya muttered. “I don’t know what these symbols say.”

“Yo, Talon? You can read some of these right?” Cherry asked, looking at the book's symbols.

“Some.” He shrugs, looking over his shoulder. “I only learned how to read simple one’s though since I don’t possess magic.”

A loud roar called out, and the trees shifted as Lorien flew over, stopping short of the perimeter they made and landing in front of the group, letting out a hiss as his shoulder bends forward a bit. Nash immediately gets to his feet and pets Lorien’s wing. “Careful buddy! You’re probably still sore after that scorpion sting.”

The demon let out a low purr as he moved forward before collapsing just a few inches from the barb wire, making himself comfortable. Cherry pet the demon’s head before getting up and stretching. “Alright, I’ll see you all later. I need to head back to train with Viper. Nash, you come along too.”

“Aww..but I don’t want to train.” Nash pouts, wrapping his arms around Lorien’s neck. “Can’t I just watch Lorien?”

“No no, come on.” Cherry giggled, snatching up Nash and tickling his sides as she began carrying him off to the club. 

Aya smiled as she watched Cherry play with Nash, despite his denial and whining, then looked to Talon as he took the book and gazed at the symbols. Lorien leaned over and began to look over the book, his orchid tongue sticking out in thought, and Aya moving closer as she read the symbols. “Lorien? What would be the best symbol for energy saving? Or amplifying magic?”

Lorien let out a purr before moving a wing, the orchid tendril at the end flipping the page a bit and pointing at one. “Tam.”

“This one is complex but I think I can draw it..” Talon said, looking at Aya and getting her nod in approval.

“Do it. The more symbols the better. Lorien any others?” Aya asked, taking the book so Talon could move and carefully started drawing on the ground.

Letting out a low rumble in his throat, Lorien thought before the tendril flipped a couple pages and pointed again. “Sana..”

“Ok..” Aya nodded, listening as Lorien kept pointing and saying the word “there” in different languages. After pointing out a few more, Aya decided to move onto the demonic phrases as she flipped through, Talon still drawing and carving symbols into the trees around her and the dirt floor.

“It’s important not to step on any symbol.” Talon warns her. “My father told me that if a symbol is altered it could either do nothing or turn the ritual completely around.”

“Got it..” Aya nodded. “If nothing else I can just redraw them right?”

“Yes but you must add every last detail.” Talon nods as he carefully walks back over and looks at the book. “Found any phrases?”

“I can’t read it..” Aya mutters softly, making the boy kneel down and read what he could of the pages.

Talon read each title, flipping through them. “..demonic transmutation...imitation..levitating..oh, here! Magic Augment. This is the one.”

Aya smiled and taking out a pencil she brought with her, left a star next to it. “Ok, how do I say it?”

Lorien let out a concerned whine as he glanced at Talon, but the boy was unnerved. “Don’t worry Lorien..we’ll recite it slowly and piece by piece that way we don’t activate it. Aya, you’ll need to repeat after me so I know you’re saying it right. When I’m not here Lorien can help speak out some of the words but you are the person that needs to recite it.”

“Alright..” Aya nodded, taking a deep breath before exhaling. “Let’s begin..”

Back at the club, Laila and Viper were training Cherry and Nash separately, Viper staying with Cherry since she’s already experienced and Nash being with Laila because he still has not experienced his full potential of killing. Laila watched Nash carefully as he was practicing swings with his bat, needing to get the hang of hitting something at full force if needed. Cherry on the other hand was fighting against Viper in hope for him to find out weaknesses that she could improve on.

Getting thrown to the ground with a loud yelp, Cherry looked up and sighed. “I fight way better with Malik..”

“That’s because Malik always covers you when you perform your flips and jumps.” Viper stated, helping her up. “You need to learn how to rely on yourself.”

“But it’s haaaarrrd!” Cherry whines as she gets up. “You don’t know what it’s like having a twin. The closest you’ve come is Edan.”

Viper took a deep breath, counting to 10 before exhaling. “Let’s just get back to training.”

“She has a point, Viper.” Laila smiled, turning to them and Nash stopped his swings as his head twitched. “You and Edan, in everything you two do it’s..flawless. Just like Cherry and Malik fighting together.”

“It’s not flawless.” Viper scoffed, crossing his arms. “We just..planned things out well.”

“Planned?” Cherry giggled. “You two danced to anything without needing to speak to one another and fought like a dynamic duo.”

“Back to training!” Viper hissed, throwing a punch her way but Cherry quickly dodged and giggled.

Laila turned back to Nash and pet his head. “Ok Nash, let’s focus on your defense now.”

The four continued their training as Edan opened the floor hatch and sighed with relief, getting to the bar and taking out a can of soda and immediately started chugging it. Viper was the first to see him, stopping Cherry’s attack and walking over. “Edan? Something wrong?”

A reflection of surprise showed in Edan’s gaze as he moved the can away from his lips but nodded. “yeah..I have a Specter downstairs, Jeff and Roxie were badly hurt but I fixed them up..”

“Damn, they fucking got one.” Viper sighed, Cherry joining them at the bar.

“They’re ok though right?” Cherry asked as she leaned on the counter.

Edan nodded, handing them boh sodas. “Yeah they’re alright. Jeff was harder to fix up, he needs to be more careful..”

The two gladly took the sodas and Laila turned, taking Nash’s hand and walking over to the group. “Edan, are you free to train with us now?”

“Yeah I guess.. Before that I want to check on you and Cherry’s wounds just in case.” Edan commented.

Viper huffed. “We also need to talk later.”

Edan shot him an irritated glare before averting his gaze back to his soda. “Whatever..”

Laila decided to break the tension before it could grow and smiled. “Well Edan, once Talon get’s back you two can fight each other. Let’s have you check my wing so I can continue training Nash.”

Without a word, Edan walked around the counter and took off the bindings that held Laila’s wings to her back, carefully having them spread out. Nash watched and let Laila squeeze his hand as the teen touched her wings and then looked to the blonde. “Edan? Will they be safe? With the Specter down there?”

“Don’t worry Nash, I have lights over it and its strapped down. It seemed to have entered a form of hibernation.” Edan spoke calmly, continuing to prod at Laila’s wings. “Ok Laila, any pain?”

“Just soreness really..I thought a sprain was supposed to last at least a week?”

“You forget we’re CP’s~” Cherry giggled as she got away from the counter. “One of our many perks!”

“I wonder if we would continue to age even if our family didn’t disappear..” Viper commented.

“I hope so! I wouldn’t want to be ten forever!” Nash replied, letting go of Laila’s hand.

“Most likely Slender would only have made us immortal at the time we’ve proven to be CPs.” Laila replied, flexing her wings before closing them. “But you have a point, I wish I stopped growing at 18. Perfect balance of adult and child.”

“What about you Edan?” Nash asked innocently, staring at him with his green eyes.

Edan thought before shrugging. “I don’t know..I like being at 16 or 17, just..yeah. My favorite ages. Cherry, you too.”

“Ok~” Cherry smirked and laid down on one of the tables. “This work?”

“Cheeky bitch.” Edan smiled as he walked over and lightly pressed on her torso and watched for any indication of pain.

Laila, Nash, and Viper went back to training, and soon Talon entered the building with a soft smile and waved to the others. “Aya is all settled in, Lorien is on guard, and she has learned how to use the demonic words if needed.”

“Oh wonderful!” Laila called back. “Talon, could you partner up with Edan for training?”

“Sure. You ready Edan?” Talon asked as he stepped closer to the group.

“As ready as I can be.” Edan shrugged, nodding to Cherry that she could continue her training.

Talon took his position, now despite being much stronger than Edan he lacked technique for fighting which made it easier for him to be taken down. In most fights Talon was easily overpowered, the only one he’s ever beaten would be Nash and Roxie but they were younger as well. Edan stood in front of him, taking his position and raising his fists, he gave a grin as he taunted.

“Think you got any better at fighting?”

“I know I have.” Talon scoffed in reply, taking a swing at Edan, who only ducked and hooked his arm around Talon’s to trap his arm before stepping on the taller boy’s foot.

Talon grunted and twisted his body around, throwing Edan to the floor and getting over him to pin him down, only to be kicked in the gut by Edan and tossed off. Talon hissed and stood up, surprised by the pain lingering on his stomach from the heel of the boot, but was determined and started throwing his fists at Edan again. The half-hylian boy only smirked and dodged his fists, finally retaliating by kicking his leg up and his ankle landed on Talon’s shoulder, taking the under realm boy’s arm and hauling himself up onto Talon’s shoulders. The teen stumbled as he nearly lost balance and tried to pull Edan off, but the cannibal son only held on, keeping his legs locked firmly around Talon’s head as he swung back and made Talon lose his balance completely.

As Talon landed on the floor, his neck red from embarrassment and the abuse of Edan’s legs, looking up and glaring at Edan, who was sitting on Talon’s back and keeping the boys face to the floor. “Give in Talon? You should consider getting a weapon.”

“Not yet..” Talon growled, quickly lifting himself up and shoving Edan off, getting to his feet quickly as Edan jumped up.

Edan’s smirk vanished as Talon started to fight again, but this time was more precise in his hits, aiming for a part of Edan’s body but alternating his attack to a different part of his body. Talon aimed both hands at Edan’s neck, making the boy hit his hands away but left his chest open for Talon to kick him hard. It was no surprise that Talon had used his martial arts training, but normally he would hold back with his friends in an attempt to keep them from getting injured. Edan moved to protect his stomach but was quickly winded as Talon’s hand hit right on his throat, making him gasp and fall to his knees.

However Talon wasn’t done, kicking Edan again and the boy coughed, but moved before a second blow could be made and kicked his leg up high to hit Talon’s head. The teen jumped back and made a move to attack the older one's side, but Edan moved just as quick and grabbed his arm to break it. Both were lost in their own rage as Talon pulled his arm back and moved his other hand to Edan’s neck, cutting off his oxygen. Something in him snapped, and Edan’s mouth opened to reveal his sharp teeth and lunged at Talon. This action sent both to the floor and finally stirring the others to look over and calling out to them. Talon jabbed his knee into Edan’s side to get the smaller one off but Edan refused to get off and launched hit teeth to Talon’s neck, the blonde thankful that he twisted his head in time that the teeth dug into his right shoulder instead. 

A scream of pain tore itself out from Talon’s throat, kicking and shoving harder to get Edan off but he had a chunk of his flesh in the sharp teeth’s grasp. Edan finally pulled out of his trance, yet couldn’t find the strength to let go, his body craving the crimson metallic taste. Viper ran over and pried Edan’s mouth from Talon’s shoulder, Laila coming over in a panic and helping Talon sit up so she could look at his shoulder, but the boy fought her grasp. Cherry had to run over and take Edan to the bar counter while Viper assisted Laila in holding Talon down.

“Talon calm down! What’s wrong with you?!” Laila yelled in worry, holding him down to look at his shoulder and Viper held the teen’s legs down.

“Fuck that’s a deep bite..we’ll need some medicine and a square bandage.” Viper said with a grunt as he sat on the boy.

“Edan are you alright?” Cherry asked as she helped him sit on one of the bar stools. “Come on Edan say something!”

With a shake of his head Edan looked to Cherry and wiped off the blood from his lips. “Quickly, water..”

Cherry nodded and got a water bottle from the small fridge and hurried back to give it to Edan. “what just happened?”

“Killer Instinct..” Edan muttered as he drank from the bottle, washing the blood down his throat and shivered.

“Killer instinct?” Laila questioned, looking over. “But..how do you know that?”

“Uncontrollable rage with a goal.” Viper said, finally feeling Talon calm down and ordering Nash. “Nash, get the medical supplies from behind the counter.”

“Ok!” Nash nodded and ran to the counter, searching for the medical kit.

“What the fuck bit me?” Talon muttered, finally pulling out of his rage state and holding his right shoulder. 

“Seems you and Edan experienced your first blood rage.” Viper commented. “What made you so mad?”

Talon said nothing, looking at the floor but muttered softly. “um..I was mad that he was taunting me that I wasn’t strong..”

“Really? What about you Edan?” Laila called out to the boy, who was walking over with Cherry.

“I think I was in fight or flight mode.” Edna shrugged, drinking more water. “Damn it..I was three months into my cannibal prohibition.”

“Forget about your prohibition! I’m bleeding!” Talon snapped, but calmed down as Nash came over and opened the medic kit.

Viper helped Talon remove his shirt and took out the medicine. “Talon hold still.”

Laila stood and walked closer to Edan, seeing the boy’s still shocked look mixed with a form of desire. “Edan? Are you ok?”

“I’m fine!” Edan said quickly and sighed. “i’m..I’m going to go shower.” 

Edan soon left and Cherry looked at Laila. “Should we leave him alone?”

“For now..” Laila sighed. “Let’s just hope that they can get the Killer Instinct under control.”

“The Killer Instinct only activates in a CP based on their anger or survival status.” Viper explained. “Nash, finish up for me, I need to speak to Edan.”

Nash nodded, his head twitching a bit as he put a bandage on Talon’s shoulder and wrapping it up. “Talon are you sure you’ll be ok?”

“I’m fine..” Talon muttered. “I just can’t believe I lost it, sure I was mad but..I’ve never been blacked out before.”

“Talon this is something that would have happened to us anyways.” Laila comforted as she walked over and knelt by his side. “It’s in our blood.”

“If that’s what happens in Killer Instinct, I can’t wait to try it!” Cherry giggled.

“I don’t know Cherry, it didn’t seem fun.” Nash shook his head as Talon put his shirt back on.

“Nash is right, I’ve never heard of Killer Instinct being fun.” Talon added as he grumbled. “I think that’s enough training for now..”

Laila nodded. “Right..you guys go ahead and take a break.” 

The group parted, Cherry going upstairs with Nash to play a game with him, and Talon watched as Laila sat at the bar counter. Sighing and ignoring the pain in his shoulder he took the seat next to Laila and asked softly. “Are you alright Laila?”

“I guess so..I’m worried about this.” Laila replied, her violet eyes meeting his blue ones. “We’ve never had to experience Killer Instinct because we were fairly protected and avoided trouble whenever possible. But now it’s all suddenly unraveling?”

“It is probably because we’re all tense and scared.” Talon commented, petting her wings. “The sudden revealing of our family being betrayed, the constant attacks, and now trying to piece together what we lost..”

“Possible..but CP’s have lost complete control..oftentimes it was described in their stories as a blinding attack that results in several loved one’s deaths. There has never been a concluding way to control it.” Laila sighed, resting her head on her arms as she leaned on the counter.

“Jeff might know. We’ll ask him as soon as he wakes up.” Talon encouraged. “For now you should rest.”

Laila gave a soft smile and nodded. “Does your shoulder hurt?”

He only smirked and shrugged. “Not too bad now, the under realm training was worse..but Edan is right, maybe I should get a weapon.”


	13. The CP's Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omg I hadn't realized 6 days passed already, sorry guys! College has started up for me again so I've been super busy getting homework done! But I am still writing so don't worry, I hope you all are doing ok as well.

Jeff had awoken, but he didn’t know how long he was out for, looking over and seeing Roxie gone from her bed. Cautiously he sat up, wincing at the sting in his chest but forced himself out of the bed and moving to the door. The Specter was still asleep on the table with the lamp shining right at its face, and Jeff left when he was sure the Specter wasn’t going to move. He staggered up the stairs and opened the hatch, seeing sunlight peeking through the small windows and confirming how long Jeff has been asleep for.

“Damn..I was asleep all night.” Jeff grumbled but got out from the hatch and saw Talon in one of the booths, his head buried in his arms as he snored softly into the table.

“Talon? What are you doing down here?” Jeff asked, shaking the boy a bit. “Come on, wake up.”

Talon muttered before opening his eyes and looking up at Jeff. “huh? Jeff? How are you feeling?”

“Ok, still stinging in my chest and hard to breath, but alright.” Jeff answered, sitting next to him and pointing at his shirt. “The hell bit you?”

Talon rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Edan..him and I..we were training and I guess Killer Instinct took over me, and Edan went into his Instincts because he thought I was trying to kill him.”

Jeff was beyond surprised, just last night Roxie, Edan, and Talon experienced Killer Instinct. “Really? Wow, you kids must have trust issues. My generation only went into Killer Instinct if we were really angry.”

“Laila thinks that because we never really had much time learning how to kill, that our Killer Instincts only kick in when we’re mad or our life is threatened.” Talon replied.

“I see..so how is everyone? And why are you out here sleeping?” Jeff asked. “You have a room upstairs.”

“Oh, because I went to check on Aya really early..” Talon mumbled. “Laila was really tired and I didn’t want her to wake up to stress. Aya and Lorien are doing ok but I was worried about breaking her concentration so I left. Roxie woke up at the crack of dawn so I helped her to her room. The others have been asleep..”

“Ok, do you know if there’s been any progress with Edan and Viper?”

Talon opened his mouth to speak but a door slammed open upstairs and Edan was walking down the stairs with Viper following, both in rage and shouting at each other. Jeff and Talon watched silently as the ex-couple walked past them.

“Would you get out of my face?!” Edan shouted behind him as he sped walked to his lab.

“We still need to talk about arrangements for sex!” Viper snarled, following close behind him and grabbing his arm.

The smaller one yanked his arm out of his grasp and turned, growling at Viper. “There’s nothing to talk about since you clearly don’t like sex!”

“The hell are you talking about?! Edan answer me!” Viper yelled after him but when Edan slammed the hatch down, Viper snarled and left the club.

Talon gave a tired glance to Jeff. “things...could be better between them…”

“Right, I can see that now.” Jeff huffed. “I’ll talk to Viper.”

“Jeff maybe I should.” Talon stated as he stood up. “You’re still injured.”

He was about to interject but stopped himself, seeing this as a chance to let Talon connect to Viper. The proxy was a difficult person to deal with and right now he needed the CP children to make as many connections to each other as much as possible. “Alright, just stay safe.”

Talon nodded and left to find Viper, thankful that he didn’t travel far as he walked down the sidewalk. “Viper! Dustie wait!”

“Don’t call me that!” Viper snarled at him, not even glancing over his shoulder.

The under realm CP glared and ran faster until he was close enough to walk beside the proxy. “Dustie is your name, I prefer calling you that then your proxy name.”

“I don’t want anyone using my name.” He hissed. “My name is only for my parents to say.”

“And Edan.” Talon added, making him stop and he moved in front of him, but his head was tilted down and the mask over his face. “You forgot to add him..”

“So fucking what? He doesn’t call me that.” Viper denied, keeping his gaze away from Talon. “Every time I try to talk to the guy he’s only pushed me away.”

“Because you’re not getting straight to the point.” Talon argued. “If you want him to listen you need to make him listen. And not by your usual shouting match, what about the times you guys were mad at each other and had to talk?”

“That’s different.” Viper huffed. “Beforehand he was always understanding, but now he’s trying to be human. All the exposure to the city, the night life, It’s fucking with his brain.”

The word human passed his lips with such venom in it and it made Talon flinch. He took a deep breath and tried a calmer approach. “Viper..you need to talk to Edan, no one ever said it was easy but you need to at least try and find a common ground.”

Viper seemed unconvinced and Talon just added. “At least until Malik is here? Then you can leave.”

The proxy let out a shaky breath and nodded. “Alright..just until Malik is here..have you checked on Aya?”

“Yeah, she’s concentrating on saving her magic, so we just have to wait.” Talon replied. “And you..you and Edan need to have intercourse. To do your part and help Aya find Malik.”

A groan escaped Viper. “This is stupid..”

“Maybe, but we all have to do our part.” Talon spoke. “Come on, let’s head back in.”

“You go ahead, I need some time to clear my head before I face Edan again.” Viper replied as he resumed his walk.

Talon made his way back to the club, checking behind him occasionally and watching Viper vanish into the city. Arriving back at the club he saw Jeff was behind the bar counter with a beer and a sandwich. “Jeff, I’m planning on going back to bed, what are you going to do?”

The killer looked at the tired teen and shrugged. “Go killing maybe? Not sure, I need to unwind but I know that I’ll fuck my body over if I’m not careful. Last thing we need is me to be bleeding all across the damn city.”

“Probably would be best.” Talon yawned. “Night..”

Jeff watched him ascend to his room and took another bite of his sandwich. “Hmm..maybe a bit of city watching would do me good..”

On the borderline of the forest, Aya was in the middle of her meditation sitting in the ring as she took deep breaths. Lorien sat patiently as he watched around them, yawning and laying his head down. It was an odd feeling to Aya, when she was younger she had boundless energy and since she’s been draining herself at the carnival it felt odd to feel energy flowing through her. Her mother always described it as honey filling her blood, but to Aya it felt more like an electrical surge. She was worried that her uncontrollable magic surges that haunted her childhood would rear its head again when she charged up. It was bad enough that as a child a simple hiccup could set something on fire or make it come to life, she didn’t need to endanger her family if her magic could not be controlled.

The forest was peaceful, she practically was melting from the peace and not having to think about why she was saving magic in the first place. Having Lorien there also made her more comfortable and feel safe within the thin protection of the barbed wire perimeter. She took another deep breath before opening her golden eyes and looking around the tranquil forest, humming happily as she felt the sun on her skin. “I should probably nap..”

She slowly got up, watching her step as she slipped into the tent to get her sleeping bag ready but heard something snap behind her and Lorien growling. Turning around and peering out into the woods. “Lorien...stay boy.”

Lorien nodded but continued keeping his eyes in the distance of the forest, waiting patiently. Aya felt her body shake but all the tension left as she saw a squirrel run by and giggled softly. “my..we must be more tense than we thought huh bud?”

The demon still didn’t look satisfied but slowly relaxed and laid down, letting out a low purr and Aya smiled. “Perhaps you should rest too Lorien, Talon did tell us that Specters don’t come out as often during the day.”

Lorien let out a snuff of agreement and Aya closed the tent, crawling into her sleeping bag and happily enjoying the warmth of the sun’s heat through the tent. Birds chirped around her and she could hear Lorien’s gentle snoring, she was truly at peace. As she closed her eyes, memories of her family flooded her mind. Remembering her father’s warm embrace and laugh and her mother's gentle singing and hot cocoa. She missed those days, and she knew the others did too even if some tried to put on a strong front. As more thoughts of her family came to mind a tear slipped down from her cheek and hit the tent’s surface, but without her knowledge it burned right through the bottom of the tent.

Edan hummed softly as his boots clacked across the concrete floor, grabbing some forceps as he took the hood off to see the shadow head, and the gem on its forehead. Using the forceps and a small chipper he lightly tapped the gem and took off a piece. He was amazed that in comparison to other Specters, this one was not decaying. Edan theorized that it was because he was taking the gem piece by piece rather than shattering the whole thing. While thinking he continued his work, taking samples and the pieces of the gem, he heard the door open and looked up for a second before his eyes snapped back down. 

“You’re up late..it’s past sunrise. How’s the dissecting?” Viper’s voice called, uncharacteristically calm.

“Going great until a prick decided to come in and annoy me..” Edan huffed, bowing his bangs out of his socket. “And I am not tired..”

There were footsteps getting closer and although Edan did his best to ignore it, his hands slowed down their process of collecting, yet his bangs were lifted out of his way. He said nothing, continuing to collect pieces of the body before moving away and placing the collected samples on his desk. The whole time, Viper followed, keeping his bangs out of his socket for him and didn’t say a word. Finally, Edan lightly swatted his hand off and muttered. “Thanks..”

“Anytime..” Viper mumbled back, turning his head away.

Edan only continued to look through the items before he went rigid, feeling Viper’s body pressed up behind him, his toned chest to Edan’s back. “Viper-”

“I like sex.” Viper said suddenly.

Edan snorted before laughing, keeling over enough that Viper actually had to hold him up straight. “It’s not funny!”

“I-it totally i-is!” Edan said through his laughing attack and then turned in Viper’s arms. “Did you seriously come down here to say that?”

“No!” Viper barked back. “I was just saying that I don’t hate sex! But I also came down to explain myself..about what happened when I left.”

Edan’s laughter died down, his face contorted to a pained expression that shot through the proxy kid. He didn’t get a word out before Edan slipped under his arm and went back to the strapped down menace on the bench. “Viper you don’t need to explain, I get it, you wanted to go out on your own. It makes sense now..you just wanted to protect the others.”

Although Edan made out his words like he understood, his hands were still clenched and his voice felt stuffed with gravel, Viper quickly moved to his side and took one of Edan’s hands. “That’s not the only reason..I did it so I could protect you. I know you can take care of yourself but you always worried about me so much that..I didn’t want to cause you that kind of stress or anxiety.”

“Hey we both agreed to it when we dated.” Edan joked softly, but Viper glared and turned him around by grabbing his shoulders.

“I never signed up to make you feel scared of what would happen to me.”

“And I never signed up to be with someone so heartless!” Edan cried out, black ooze dripping out from both his eyes. “Did you really think I’d move on?!”

“You seemed to do great without me around.” Viper snapped back. “Parading around like nothing was wrong in the world. Partying while I was killing specters left and right. Damn it Edan you’re a CP you should’ve been-”

“What?! What should I have been doing?!” Edan’s sharp teeth clicked together threateningly as he yelled back, his red eye glowing now. “Should I have been looking for you? Sitting with the others like a kid? I never felt more at home then I did when I took over this place!”

“Edan listen!” Viper shook him this time, making the half Hylian boy squirm and struggle in his grasp, but the proxy refused to let him move. “You just should have never tried to live as a human! You know what you are, you know what your family is. There was no reason to push it all off because of me.”

“Because of you?” Edan let out a bitter chuckle. “You think it’s all about you? I left because I wanted to live, not be trapped anymore. The only reason I stayed so long in the first place was because you were there..I’m..I’m not a Creepypasta!”

Viper’s jaw clenched tightly as he let go of Edan’s shoulders, letting them slump, but he wasn’t going out without his final words. Taking one of the scalpels from the small tray and lifting his mask he dragged the blade carefully across his bottom lip, it burned like hell from the small cut but it did what he was hoping for. Edan’s nose flared as he smelled the blood, looking up at Viper with shock and licked his lips. “Dustie..”

“You’re a cannibal, a gamer, a CP, you keep cutting organs from your diet then you’ll lose what you have left of your CP blood.” Viper said, resisting the urge to wipe the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. “So eat.”

Edan practically jumped on him, kissing and licking at the blood while Viper held him by his hips and let him taste. The smaller one’s ears tilted down a bit, purring at the metallic taste, but the nirvana sensation was lost quickly when Viper tried to kiss him back. Shocking the boy into reality as he pulled away but still craved the metallic crimson. They stood silently before Edan bowed his head and his body shook, torn between running, yelling, and crying. Seeing this struggle, Viper stepped close again and wrapped his arms around him, letting the blonde sob into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry..” Viper muttered, making him sob louder into his chest, but said nothing else and allowed the smaller CP to stay in his embrace. 

He was loving the attention that Edan was giving him, but he hated to hear the heartbreaking cries from his ex-boyfriend. “Edan, look I know you don’t want to hear me talk about having sex with our relationship being so..rocky. But if nothing else we need to get Malik here.”

Edan sniffed and looked up at Viper, nodding a bit. “..you should shower up..Come to my room tonight at 9pm. But try to sleep right now.”

Viper nodded and slowly let go of Edan, moving to leave the lab while Edan walked back to the Specter and decided there was not much else that he could do and he should just kill it. Picking up a small hammer Edan held it over the gem of the shadow subject before smashing the gem to pieces. The Specter began to decay and Edan looked to the door as he saw Laila enter, quickly wiping the remaining goop from his cheeks. “Laila? Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“I just...I heard you and Viper yelling for a while and well..seeing him come out with a cut lip I just wanted to check on you.” Laila explained softly. “You should sleep too.”

“I will soon. He and I agreed to have sex but I’m not sure how sex magic is supposed to bring Malik back..” Edan shrugged. “And his lip was cut to make a point..”

Laila tilted her head. “What point would that be?”

He was silent for a bit but smirked as he moved to the cooler in the lab and took out a bright red heart. “I am a CP through and through.”

Although surprised, Laila smiled with delight as he took a bite of the heart and continued to eat as he moved to the door. She didn’t need to say anything and followed him out until they parted so he could go to his room and she went up the steps to the hatch. “Good to have you back..”

Jeff was far too energized to sleep, but he knew eventually he would have to sleep so he wouldn’t wake up tomorrow morning and miss talking to the kids. Things were coming together but he was still weary about this traitor. Jeff began thinking about anyone that could’ve gone into Zalgo’s realm to obtain the gems, but that itself was a dead end because there were many spirit and CP prisoners that would hold a grudge. Yet, there must have been a connection between the council and Zalgo’s realm, but if the council and both realms had no idea then chances are that it was someone the mansion never met.

Looking down from the roof he was on, Jeff glanced over the sea of people and then at his knife with the diamond. He could always go home and tell everyone that they should just be careful, but then what would happen to the kids? A growl rumbled in his throat, this shouldn’t be such a hard task, hell forget meeting Malik they should focus on using Aya’s magic to find the CP traitor. Perhaps the answer was in Zalgo’s realm, and if it is..then all they have to do is find the portal there. Climbing down the fire escape, Jeff began running to the forest, he needed to see if it was still there. Dodging people and getting to the forest was easy, but since years had gone by and the forest has been pushed in for the city’s expansion, the forest has shrunk a lot. 

The center of the forest still had the large lake and the burned wreckage of the mansion, even the small cabin. It is still a mystery why the ruins of the mansion looked so new despite the attack being years ago. It was possible that the magic kept things new but the more likely idea was that the magic left from the house kept the rubble together. Jeff didn’t care much about how the house stayed magical for Slender’s use, but he knew it had something to do with the souls of human victims.

As Jeff walked around Zalgo’s territory he noticed how demolished this half of the forest was, the trees were uprooted and several traces of mole holes. The portal and scarecrow were gone and it troubled Jeff greatly, not in the sense that he was at a loss, more that he was pissed off. The killer kept searching for the portal, yet after another chunk of time passed and Jeff felt his blood boiling over with frustration. With nothing else to do he left the damaged woods and started walking along the borderline of the forest to find Aya and Lorien. Despite the air being cold the sun on Jeff’s back felt great and he could hardly feel the cold at all, not that he hasn’t hunted in the cold before but it was nice to feel the sun once in a while.

Memories of home started to fill his head, the times he and LJ would sit on the cold grass and watch the sunset, enjoying the heat before it vanished and cold enveloped their night. It was an experience Jeff couldn’t wait for when Spring came back around. While walking he began to playfully kick a rock in front of him, keeping it ahead of him until a particularly hard kick sent it flying into a fern bush. Jeff smirked and followed after it but stopped when he noticed something big ahead of him, very big. 

An anaconda that was prehistorically large, coiled and ashy black like its Specter counterparts. Along its black scales there were patches of orange and Jeff looked up to see glowing orange eyes staring at him, its orange tongue flicking out. Slowly the killer backed away, keeping his eyes on the snake monster as he kept backing away. The Specter’s head followed, staying about 10 feet away from Jeff before it’s mouth opened to reveal sharp white fangs and lunged at Jeff. He barely had enough time to duck before the snake curled around Jeff, making him grunt and stab his knife into the scales and dragged the blade through the body, making the snake hiss and try to bite at Jeff again. Squirming out from under the snake, Jeff managed to climb onto the back but hung on tight as the snake began moving through the forest with incredible speed. 

His nails clawed into the snake, light streaks of orange oozed out from the wounds but as it continued to wrap around trees and buck its body he was thrown off it and the tail quickly coiled around his body. Jeff hissed in pain as the tail tucked his arms to his body, he could barely move his wrist to stab the damn Specter, much less able to breathe. The face of the anaconda came close, its tongue flicking out again and Jeff grimaced at the smell. “Ew..Specter, fucking breath mints!”

It let out a loud hiss and opened its mouth wide, and Jeff froze as he saw the jewel on the back of its throat. “Oh this is a damn joke, my luck can’t be this horrible.”

As the anaconda moved and started to block out Jeff’s view of the sun and forest he felt the coil loosen and he yanked his arm out with the knife, stabbing it into the Specter’s tongue, making it shriek and pull away. Jeff quickly slipped from the snake’s tail and high-tailed out of there before it could recover, but he barely got 20 feet from it before it flashed in front of him. It whipped at Jeff, the killer jabbing the blade into the snake's head. “My luck is shit! Die you overgrown water hose!”

It hissed and smacked its head into Jeff’s body, sending him flying into a tree, and at that moment Jeff felt something tear in his chest. A trail of blood slipped out from his lips as he glared at the approaching snake, he felt his blood lust grow as he lifted his knife to point the blade away from his body. For a moment he felt his mind being ripped away from his body as he charged and stabbed his blade into the jaw of the snake and twisted his wrist to drag the blade. However the snake's head was too bulky and its muscles pulsed with new energy as it shook its head, throwing Jeff off and the knife still embedded into the jaw of the Specter.

All self preservation left the window as Jeff ran at it and jumped up, yanking the knife out and smirking. “Come on you bitch, come get a taste!”

The Specter’s mouth opened wide, plunging down onto Jeff to swallow him whole, the fangs digging into the ground and its bloody tongue attempted to drag Jeff in. As quick as the mouth came over Jeff, the killer had aimed for the crystal and struck it with his blade. The snake gagged and pulled away, hissing and wriggling as it fell onto the grass and began decaying. Although covered in saliva and feeling his stitches were loose, Jeff grinned with malicious victory as the corpse rotted away. “Getting a little too easy to kill now huh?”

Flicking some of the blood from his knife he stashed his knife in his pocket before walking off to find Aya and Lorien again. Soon as his adrenaline slowed down he groaned in pain and pulled his hoodie away from his body to see the stitches had come loose. The blood was seeping into his white hoodie and he sluggishly walked, Jeff then remembered how Talon called Lorien and took a deep breath before whistling loudly. For good measure Jeff called out afterwards. “Lorien! Hey bud!”

Jeff waited for a moment, leaning on a tree, his body jolted as he heard a shriek and looked up at the demon that was bounding through the woods. “Wait boy! Slow down!”

Lorien skidded across the ground and stopped right in front of Jeff, but tilted his head seeing the saliva all over Jeff. The killer chuckled and patted the demon's head. “Yeah I’m gross and bleeding, where’s Aya?”

The orchid eyed demon kneels down for Jeff to climb on, to which he did, and then Lorien began trampling through the woods to the spot where Aya was resting. Getting to the barbed wire perimeter, Jeff slid off Lorien and crossed it but made sure not to step on anything. “Aya? You awake?”

A groan from the tent answered his question, but Aya unzipped the tent enough to poke her head through and yawned. “Jeff? Why are you here?”

“I was wondering if you have enough magic to heal me?” Jeff asked, taking off his hoodie to show the busted stitches. “I kinda broke my stitches.”

The girl’s hair was fluffed out and a mess, sluggishly pulling herself out of the tent while lifting a hand and golden strings appeared from her fingertips. The strings stretched out and placed themselves over his wounds and with a quick flash the wound was gone. Jeff sat there in shock until Aya waved a hand in front of him. “Jeff? You ok? You smell like you fell in sewage..”

Jeff raised a brow at her. “Wow you’re merciless.”

“You woke me up. Be lucky you didn’t go to Edan, he would’ve been pissed at you for waking him.” Aya retorted with a huff. “Seriously what happened?”

“A Specter attacked me on my way here.” Jeff replied. “I think it was looking for you, and in the fight it tried to eat me.”

Aya’s eyes now looked more focused and she gasped softly. “My god, are you ok?”

“Well..as ok as I can be. How is your magic saving?” Jeff questioned, slipping his hoodie back on.

“Good, I feel really..not heavy but full. I can practically feel the magic flowing through me, feels like molasses.” Aya said, brushing her hair a bit with her fingers. “I did some digging..CP’s all have a form of magic. But not everyone has a usable magic, like you Jeff. I can feel a smidge of your magical aura, but it’s so small..”

“Really? Huh, well, I just came to a thought that we should stop focusing on Malik. I need you to track the traitor.” Jeff commented. “Can you do that?”

“Considering I have no idea what this person looks like or who they are? Probably not. I could try to trace their magic but..if they’re far away or in another realm then it would be impossible.” Aya replied, rubbing her eyes. “I just think it would be best to still wait on Malik..”

A sigh left Jeff but he nodded. “Alright..so, anything else to tell me?”

“Yes. I think I have better control of my magic.” Aya smiled confidently. “Lorien has been helping me and I haven’t set anything on fire or eradicated anything. The forest has been helping me collect my magic but I realized that my magic has always been flowing, it’s just been drained so much that I’m not used to the power in me.”

Jeff gave a small smile, his body finally beginning to sag with exhaustion and moved a hand to the top of her head and petted her. “Good work.”

She giggled and moved away from his affection. “Thanks. I think I’ll be able to use my magic no matter the situation.”

“Maybe but let’s not jinx it, your magic probably relies on rest and food.” Jeff shrugged. “I’m going to head back to sleep. When will you be coming back to the club?”

“Hmm..” Aya hummed. “Probably..not tonight but the next night.”

“Got it. Talon said he came by to check on you early this morning.” Jeff commented as he stood up.

“Yeah, he spoke to me but I was in the middle of meditation so I couldn’t reply.” Aya smiled as she moved towards her tent. “Could you tell him thanks?”

“Sure. See you Aya, thanks for healing me again.” Jeff nodded before crossing over the barbed wire.

“You’re welcome!” Aya waved to him before slipping into her tent.

Jeff patted the top of Lorien’s head, the demon was laying down now, ready to rest up but purred at Jeff’s touch. “Keep her safe boy.”

“Si~” Lorien purred out before closing his eyes and resting his head down on his wings.

Jeff stretched before starting his walk back to the club, glad that his wound was healed up and now he was tired enough to sleep. The killer was glad that Aya was doing good, and was hoping to all things bloody that in the next couple days they’d find the traitor. Once they do find the CP, Jeff is going to cut off their limbs and pluck out their eyes before handing them over to Slender, it’s a fair trade for what the CP has done to his family. Er..the family in the future. Either way, for what he’s gone through along with these kids, it would be an honor to kill the CP.

Getting back to the club it was still dark, for obvious reasons, but Jeff was careful not to stumble on anything as he made his way to the bedrooms. He barely made it to his room before he heard sniffling from one of the rooms, leaning close to the door that it was resonating from. Carefully he opened the door and peeked in through the crack and noticed Cherry sitting up on her bed. She was crying, although biting her lip was holding back her loud cries, her fingers brushing through her curly cherry colored hair. Jeff slowly stepped in, the sound of the door closing behind him caught her attention and she quickly started wiping the tears and mascara that cascaded down her cheeks.

“P-papa? What are you doing up?” Cherry sniffed out, looking at him as Jeff got closer and sat on the bed with her.

“Was just about to go to bed..but then I heard you. Something on your mind?” Jeff asked, moving a hand to her back and rubbing it slowly.

“No..just..I was dreaming of a memory before everything went to hell..when I got my chainsaw.” Cherry gave a wobbly smile. “We were all on a killing spree..but this is when Malik and I were 10 years old so when we went killing we had to go with you and dad. And then, after one particular hunt..you guys lead Malik and me to the middle of the woods. Dad took out a chainsaw for me while you handed Malik these beautiful black blade daggers.”

“Oh, well then why is that making you cry?” Jeff asked, tilting his head.

Cherry looked down and sniffed. “B-because I miss..I miss them all-” 

She barely finished before a sob tore its way out of her throat and she hid her face in her hands, leaning over. Jeff continued to rub her back and hummed softly. They continued this, him humming and Cherry crying, but as time went on her crying turned to sniffs and hiccups as she looked at Jeff. “t-that song..I know it..”

Jeff had to think about what she was talking about, realizing he was humming a song LJ would sing often to him. It was a song LJ made up when they were forced to break up years ago. “You do?”

Cherry nodded, sitting up more. “Dad used to sing it..when Malik and I couldn’t sleep..said it was a song about you and him.”

Jeff gave a small smile and nodded. “Yeah..it’s a special song..look, I don’t have all the memories you do, but I can tell you this-”

He gently cupped her cheeks and lifted her gaze to meet his, staring at her grey eyes. “I will fix this, and you guys won’t be alone..”

Cherry gave a small smile and hiccupped again, but nodded and wrapped her arms around Jeff’s neck, hugging him tightly. He hugged back and rocked her gently, the tears were already soaking through his shoulder, adding more stains to his hoodie but he didn’t care. Seeing no other course of action, Jeff carefully laid down and held Cherry to his chest. She continued to let out small sniffs until she finally closed her eyes and fell asleep, Jeff feeling sleep take hold of him as well as he lazily brushed his fingers through her hair. “Don’t worry Cherry..I’ll fix this.”


	14. Firefly's Light

The next night came by faster than expected, Laila was already cooking for the group, although most of them were still dead tired. Roxie had left to take some food to Lorien and Aya, also to see if Aya could heal Roxie’s wounds as well. Edan was a bit more than pissed finding out that Jeff tore his wound open, but soon let it go knowing that Aya healed him and he wouldn’t have to fix it again.

“Aya said she would come back tomorrow night.” Jeff commented as he ate a piece of a waffle.

Nash ate his waffles greedily, muffling out. “Yay! Malik should also be coming home soon right?”

“Nash don’t talk with your mouth full.” Laila chided softly but smiled anyways. “Malik will arrive before we know it.”

“Let’s hope.” Talon added. “In the meantime I guess we should keep training?”

“You guys will have to train with Laila today.” Viper said, looking over to everyone. “Edan and I will be...doing the spell soon.”

Edan’s face flushed red and he got up. “Thanks for breakfast..Hey Talon.”

Talon looked up to meet the cannibal’s gaze, raising a brow. “Yes?”

“Keep applying medicine to your wound..sorry that I bit you.” Edan shrugged. “I just..I-”

“I know, fight or flight. It’s my fault for taking things too far.” Talon smiled a little at him and Edan’s pointed ears tilted up from a smile of his own.

Laila sat with the others and ate, sighing softly. “Well, since the rest of us will be training, Jeff how about you give me a hand?”

“Me?” Jeff asked with confusion, drowning his waffles with the syrup on the table.

“Yes you.” Laila confirmed with a nod. “You have more experience, maybe you can give us pointers. You taught Malik to be a great killer.”

“Uh one small problem, that was the future me.” Jeff responded, stabbing his fork into the waffle. “I have no idea what I taught Malik.”

“You’ll be fine~” Cherry giggled as she wiped off some syrup from her lips. “Come on just try?”

Jeff smiled a bit and shrugged. “Alright, don’t blame me if I’m a shitty teacher though.”

Viper got up from the table and rolled his shoulders back. “I’m going to take a walk, see you all later.”

In the forest, Lorien watched diligently while Roxie sat outside the dirt circle and Aya’s strings had pulled away from her now healed stomach. The stars were out and the only light illuminating them was a small fire pit that was dug into the earth and Aya’s own glowing eyes. Roxie sighed in relief as Aya healed her wounds, smiling at the white haired girl. “Thanks so much Aya, that knife did a number on my gut, I swear I felt my own stomach acid eating my internal organs.”

“No problem! I feel so energized anyways, I needed to let out a little.” Aya smiled back. “How are things back at the club?”

“It’s alright, but I have to train when I get back.” Roxie pouted, combing her neon blue hair. “Do you think we’ll get Malik back with a sex ritual?”

Aya’s pale face lit up with pink, nervously playing with a stick. “U-uh hehe, see...the sex spell..it’s a 50/50 chance..”

Pink eyes widened in surprise, not only is it unlike Aya to lie, it was unlikely of her to lie about such a subject. “Then why do Edan and Viper have to have sex?”

“Because..Jeff thinks it’ll be a good way to get them back together?” Aya sheepishly answered. “Look I don’t like lying, b-but I think if it’ll get them on civil terms and possibly get Malik here then it’s not that bad.”

“I guess not. You’re turning dirty~” Roxie sang, poking Aya’s cheek playfully.

“I-I am not!” Aya squealed a bit, pushing Roxie’s finger away.

“It’s alright!” Roxie laughed. “Many people joke about sex and death, it’s normal. Oh! I made you something before I went to sleep.”

Aya watched as Roxie took out two bumblebee patterned knitted gloves from her dress pocket and handed them over. The phantom girl gasped and instantly slipped them on. “They’re so pretty! Where did you get the thread?”

“Ah~ That’s my secret.” Roxie tutted and turned to Lorien. “Come here Lorien!”

The demon's eyes widened like a cat and sat down, staying outside the perimeter but leaned his head forward for Roxie. She moved and placed a violet knitted neckwarmer with black buttons and placed it around his neck, buttoning it up. “Just remember to take it off before you grow~”

“Hai! Grazie!” Lorien said, his dialect switching quickly as he licked her cheek, getting a giggle from her.

“Roxie, when we find the traitor..do you think..we’ll all part ways again?” Aya asked, a frown taking place as she looked to the symbols on the ground.

Roxie looked at her friend with a confident grin. “You know, I bet you when we find the traitor they can set everything normal. They’re strong enough to make Specters and take down all CPs, they must have some kind of magic to make everything normal.”

“And..if they don’t?” Aya suggested as she looked up.

This time the blue haired girl moved closer, leaning closer to hug her friend. “Aya, whatever happens, I’ll stick with you.”

Aya nodded, hugging back as best as she could and nuzzling into Roxie’s warm embrace. Out of everyone right now besides Malik, Roxie was the next to earn everyone’s favor. She was always there and always knew what to say, Laila was like a mother, but Roxie was like the sister you could always trust and she’d understand your point of view. The two continued to hug until Roxie pulled away, with a serious expression. “Aya, what do you know about Killer Instinct?”

The question caught her off guard but Aya answered anyway. “Um, Killer Instinct is a rage induced state, normally..well according to my father.. He said that it is caused when something of value is lost or when something inhumane happens to us or others that causes us to lose control. As an example, Jeff kills because of his rage from what happened to him and feelings of betrayal or lies when he was human, or Bloodypainter killing people because of bullying.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your father mad though.” Roxie pointed out, not recalling Kagekao being mad. Normally when he was upset he’d scold or tease someone, or just drink to his heart's content.

“My father is considered a mature CP.” Aya shrugged. “He and my mother have more control of their sanity and rage. Same with Slender, G.R.E.A, just...anyone that has matured or is mature.”

“Hm..” Roxie huffed. “So..the younger you are the less control you have.” 

“That’s a good way to put it.” Aya agreed. “I remember Laila’s first Killer’s Instinct. I was with her when we visited Talon, something about my parents-”

“Wait, Laila has experienced it?” Roxie asked in shock. “But she’s so..controlled.”

“But she wasn’t at one time.” Aya pointed out. “I think I was five? I went with Laila and Mara to talk to Zalgo about my new abilities. Of course, Laila walked off to play with Talon. After a while I just remember hearing a scream and both Zalgo and Mara running to the scream and seeing one Cp dead on the floor with Laila standing in front of Talon..I can’t remember too much other than Laila wouldn’t let anyone near Talon while his parents were trying to get her to calm down.”

“Wow..she killed a CP?” Roxie muttered. “I’ll ask her about it.” 

“Maybe it’s something she wants to forget.” Aya commented, watching her stand up and pat down her dress.

“It’ll be alright.” Roxie smiled. “Rest up Aya, we’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“Bye.” Aya waved a little, watching her leave as Lorien let out a whine. He looked sad, leaning his head over to nuzzle Aya. She let him and whispered, petting his head and enjoying the feeling of the gloves. “It’s ok boy, Jeff will fix this.”

Edan had spent an hour prepping his room for this, cleaning up and adding candles around his bed for this stupid ritual. He checked himself again and again in the mirror, for what reason he wasn’t sure, but he took deep breaths as he looked over his bare form. Seeing that they were going to get out of any clothes they possessed anyways, Edan was already in his boxers, both anxiety and thrill drumming in his body. Blood was pumping everywhere within him but for some reason his heart was the coldest. In an attempt to calm himself, he crawled back under the sheets of his bed and flipped on the light switch by his bed that turned off his main lights. 

He then reached for a separate wire from behind his pillows and flicked the switch that lit up the white canopy curtains that surrounded the bed. The LED lights were not blinding, when Edan had gotten them he saw them as stars that twinkled, or diamonds that were raining down around his bed. Just lights that made him relax when he was the most scared or upset. The bed was not his originally, so it took time getting used to the king size with only him in it, but tonight he was sharing it with someone else.

Just as Edan’s nerves began to calm, his adrenaline spiked when he heard a knock at his door and Viper’s voice called out. “Edan? Are you..can I come in?”

“Y-yeah!” Edan called back, cursing himself for stuttering, sitting up and pulling the green sheets around himself.

Viper entered, first surprised at the set up of the room, but then looked to the bed itself as the door was slowly shut. “King size bed?”

“Um..my boss left this for me.” Edan mumbled out, still holding the covers around himself protectively as Viper walked closer, the proxy slipping his shoes and hoodie off.

Viper had gotten out of most of his clothes and accessories by the time he reached the bed, except his pants, as he carefully crawled onto the bed so as to not frighten Edan. It was almost instinctual, like a wolf asking for entrance into his mate's den, Viper tilted his head away to expose his neck to the cannibal to show weakness and make Edan aware he had the power to kill him if he wanted to. Edan relaxed and tilted his head when he saw a familiar marking on Viper’s chest, as the proxy finally reached him he moved a hand out and his index finger traced the tatoo. “The proxy symbol?”

“Yeah..” Viper muttered out. “I didn’t want to forget my parents.”

The blonde took his hand away but it was snatched by Viper’s callous hand, the difference only further proved that they were opposites. Edan’s hands were cold and soft, and significantly smaller than Viper’s warm and scarred hands. The proxy could probably break Edan’s wrist with one twist if he wished. “Dustie?”

The sugar brown eyes caught the red eye as he waited for Edan’s next words, dry and nervously tumbling from the smaller one’s lips. “This is..only one night right?”

His brows furrowed at Edan’s words, but he held the surgeons hand and rubbed his thumb along his soft hand. “Only if you want it to be.”

Edan looked disappointed by his response, making the proxy tense up and become defensive. “What do you want, Edan? What do you want me to say?”

“The truth. What you want rather than always trying to please me.” Edan answered quickly, looking at his trapped hand and moving it to feel the palm of Viper’s. “I..hate it when you lie. Lying about what you can do and your own feelings. I liked it better when you could tell me when we were alone, when you trusted me as kids.”

His brown eyes widened by Edan’s statement, sure they had barely talked without an argument escaping them, but he wasn’t expecting Edan to say something so emotional. “Well I hate that you are trying to hide who you are. And I hate myself for what I made you do, but I don’t regret leaving.”

Edan gazed at Viper, not angry but just confused. “So..you don’t regret..that night?”

“Hell no Edan.” Viper replied and proceeded to pull Edan closer, forcefully moving the cover off him to hug him. “Fuck no..you are my fucking world and I hate that I was the one that drove you away, but I thought I was doing the right thing. And doing what a proxy is supposed to do, protect their family.”

“You are a dumbass..A great proxy, but a dumbass.” Edan let out a soft chuckle, cuddling into the warm embrace. “Dustie? You haven’t honestly told me what you want.”

Dustie, or well known as Viper, pulled away enough to look at Edan’s face, the blonde was trying to pull on a small smile but was wavering with doubt. “I want to date you again. I want to have you by my side, calling me an idiot when I get hurt, helping me with strategies. Kissing me when I’m stressed, letting me hold you when I just need to forget about dumb shit.”

“Dustie..” Edan started but was cut off as the proxy rambled on, whispering in his pointed ear.

“To fucking watch you kill your victims in cold blood and devour their hearts. I also never got the chance to really make you wriggle under me and scream for my touch-”

Edan’s cheeks flushed bright red and used a hand to push Viper’s face away from his ear. “Stop that! You know my ears are sensitive!”

A grin made its way on Viper’s face which made Edan’s stomach curl. “Oh yes I remember, I also remember you have a spot right about here-”

Viper snuck a hand down to Edan’s waist and slowly dragged his callous fingers up Edan’s spine, making the blonde shake and arch his back, pressing up against Viper with a surprised gasp. “Dustie!”

A warm chuckle escaped the brunette and pecked Edan’s neck, moving his hands to Edan’s hips. “God I’ve missed holding you.”

“Your obsession over my hips is scary.” Edan pouted, but moved a hand to Viper’s head and began playing with his soft brown hair.

“I like them. You’re a perfect mix of feminine and masculine.” Viper muttered softly in his ear.

Edan, having enough of the flattery comments, opened his mouth before biting into the junction of Viper’s neck, making him groan in pain. Having a high pain tolerance with a cannibal boyfriend did have its advantages. Edan removed his teeth and nursed the wound, licking up the blood and kissing the mark he made, all the while Viper was just basking in the attention. After the blood had stopped swelling in the bite marks, Edan licked his lips and looked at Viper with a lusty gaze. “Now, are you going to fuck me tonight or are we just going to continue to flirt?”

A growl escaped from Viper as he shoved Edan onto his back, pinning him to the bed and pillows. “I promise you’re not going to walk tomorrow.”

“Good, because if I can walk then you didn’t do it right~” Edan challenged with a smirk. “Then we’ll have to start all over.”

Viper grinned and chuckled. “I think that would be ok, we may need to keep repeatedly wishing for Malik’s return anyways.”

“Dustie, do me a favor and don’t talk about Malik or anyone else. Just wish mentally.” Edan said, pulling the proxy down with his hand clenching onto the brunette's hair. The two quickly got lost in their new flame of love, the night theirs for the taking. Every insult, shout, tear, it was leading up to a rekindling without their knowing.

As Jeff and Laila fought hand to hand while Talon helped Nash with his swing, Cherry was walking along the second floor railing around the gap and performing flips and spins. Jeff was fairly surprised by how well Laila could fight with just her hands, but she had her wings as an advantage. While she could fly, she said her wings are used to disorient her enemies, flapping them makes gusts of wind to dampen their hearing and have a chance to get something in their eyes to blind them. She was clever, there was no doubt about that, but Jeff could see the hesitance in her fighting.

“Come on Laila, I want you to really lay in a good hit.” Jeff challenged.

“Sorry Jeff, I’m not good at fighting family.” Laila muttered with shame. “I don’t want to hurt you, it’s always been a weakness of mine.”

“You can trust him Laila!” Cherry shouted out, jumping down and landing perfectly on her feet with a smile. “He took an arrow to the chest and was nearly eaten, I think he can handle bruises and broken bones.”

“We don’t have Edan right now, so let’s not get carried away.” Talon called out into the conversation, Nash turning to look at the group and smiled at Jeff.

“Jeffy?” Nash called out. “Could we hear another story?”

“Nash, maybe later ok? We need to keep training.” Jeff said carefully to not disappoint the kid. “I’ll tell you all some CP’s stories at lunch and dinner.”

“Ok..” Nash pouted and Talon led him back over to work on his swings.

Roxie soon entered, stopping the door from slamming shut behind her, although she did not look as peppy as she did before leaving to see Aya. “Laila?”

The angel CP smiled and greeted her friend. “Ah, hey Roxie welcome back. How’s Aya?”

“She’s doing great, she looks like a light bulb.” Roxie jokes, but as she got closer she asked. “Laila? Why didn’t..you tell us you had used Killer Instinct before?”

Laila froze but everyone’s eyes were on her, she was the only one who seemed in her own world. “How do you know that?”

“Aya told me..” Roxie murmured. “Did..you actually experience it?”

“Roxie don’t pressure-” Talon tried to step in but Laila held up her hand to stop him.

“No, they should know.” Laila croaked, moving to one of the tables and sitting down. “It..was an accident as most times it would be, I was 12 and Talon was 8. It..It seems so dumb now but I killed a CP demon because he was picking on Talon. I just got mad and before I knew it I was caught in the teasing, I got angry and pissed off as he continued to taunt until-”

“She cut his neck open with her pocket knife.” Talon finished, standing beside her. “Aya was with Mara and Zalgo at the time so they led her away. My mom and dad were trying to calm Laila down but she didn’t seem to know who was in front of her.”

“I just wanted to forget it.” Laila continued. “I blacked out, I couldn’t tell what I was doing, I just was trying to protect Talon and went overboard. My mom actually had to knock me out in order to get me back home. I’m not proud of myself..”

“That explains so much.” Jeff commented, walking closer. “Your hesitancy for attacking people you know, the reason you kept everyone locked in a damn room to protect them. Fuck Laila, have some confidence in yourself and your group.”

Laila looked away from Jeff’s gaze, but Cherry just blocked her view. “La-la, we’re in this together, if we can’t calm down one of our own then we’re not a team. You have to have a bit of trust in us.”

A smile grew on Laila’s face, looking at Nash that began to hug and nuzzle into her side. “Yeah..you guys are right, sorry..”

“You’re just doing what you can to protect us.” Roxie replied. “Now come on, the faster we get to training, the sooner this day will end and we can go find the traitor.”

Nash smiled up at Laila and Talon before walking off towards Jeff. “Uncle Jeff! Could you see if I’m doing this right?”

Jeff followed Nash to the side, several bottles and cans were placed on a table for him to practice hitting. Nash looked at Jeff nervously, his head twitching a little. “Jeff? What if I can’t kill? I mean..I was scared about you dying because of that Specter and I just cried. I didn’t help.”

“Hey Nash, everyone’s got something to be scared of. Hell, when Toby and Clockwork have you I’ll make damn sure they train you to be a killer.” Jeff encouraged, kneeling down in front of the boy.

His green eyes looked at Jeff, happy yet still worried. “But..what if I freeze up? CP’s can’t be scared when they fight.”

Jeff sighed and looked to the others that were talking and called out. “Hey! Break time, get your asses over here. I have a story.”

The others walked over, although confused and took their places either standing or sitting in a booth or on the floor. Jeff sat on the floor and Nash sat in front of him, still looking at Jeff for answers. Despite the kid being so young and innocent looking, his eyes were sharp and filled with so much emotion, emotions that should not be showing if his parents were with him. 

“Alright..this isn’t going to be a full story, but it’s an important one. It’s the ending to what happened when Mara helped us reclaim our rights, our title as Creepypastas. I still think it’s a stupid ass name but that’s what we are.” Jeff started, smirking when he saw the grins and heard Laila cover a chuckle.

“So..Mara was human, you all know this, and after meeting Zalgo she had made an accidental deal with him. Her choices were to join us and work for both him and Slender, or be human and promise him her soul when she died. She kept this hidden as much as possible, but seeing her grow wings was a terrible sight, her screams of pain, something that no normal human could endure..and yet she lived. When the day of the genocide came, all the CP’s were nervous, even SCP’s. We were teleported constantly, even fought against resisting humans that were armed or just wouldn’t give up.”

“I can’t say this for everyone but I can say this about myself, I wasn’t worried about humans, I didn’t give a damn what they thought. But I kept thinking about Mara, what would happen to her? And I couldn’t stop thinking about LJ..Was this genocide going to work? Would the Council finally recognize us as a group of living creatures rather than just puppets? It was running through my head, but I couldn’t stop thinking even when I was tired. We were all tired, and so damn desperate..”

“Fuck we were all scared, scared of losing loved ones, scared of losing our lives. But when Council members arrived to help us, that fear was lifted for at least a moment to get us back to killing..we kept killing all damn day, and when we finally were rewarded with the humans finally remembering us..a near fear settled..what if humans find us? What if we have no choice but to eradicate humans just to survive? You know what I thought afterwards?”

The kids stared at Jeff, making small glances at each other and praying someone knew the answer to his question. Jeff waited until finally taking a deep breath and sighing. “Fuck the world..I was being held by LJ, Mara was alive, and we were finally..after seven years, given the freedom by the Council’s permission. Mara has been working hard to keep the peace between the three realms, to keep us safe. Hell, if the next apocalypse has us destroy all the humans to protect ourselves, then count me in. If I have to visit the past or future again just to protect my family, then I’m all for it.”

Nash looked at Jeff, a shine of what looked like admiration in his emerald eyes. Jeff stared directly into his eyes and added. “CP’s get scared..but we use that fear to protect what we love, by watching each other's backs and doing what we can to prepare for the worst.”

Laila had started crying during the story, but she was silent, wiping her eyes clear of tears before saying. “Alright. Let’s get back to it.”

The others slowly moved to get back to training but Jeff kept his eyes on Nash, making sure the information got through to the boy. Nash smiled and requested after a minute. “Jeffy, please help us become badass killers.”

The killer only smirked and stood up. “I’ll do what I can kid. Let’s see your swing.”

Nash nodded and stood, picking his bat up before swinging it right into one of the bottles, shattering the bottle as the pieces went flying. He began to laugh and cheer, hitting the can next that flew and hit the wall. Jeff watched with a pleased smile but looked to his side as he felt someone tug his shirt. Cherry was beside him and smiling, whispering to him. “Thanks for the story.”

“Welcome kiddo..” Jeff muttered back and Cherry walked over to Nash.

“Hey Nash! If you manage to break a human skull then we can make you some home made Molotov and firework bombs.”

“Really?!” Nash looked at Cherry with such excitement, hugging her legs. “Really you mean it?!”

“Of course!” Cherry giggled, petting his head. “But break a skull first.”

Jeff left the kids and watched Talon fighting with Laila, her kicks and punches seemed stronger this time, not held back or staggered. Talon also looked like he had more control too, focusing on Laila’s weakest points. Roxie sat at one of the tables, taking out a pair of dolls and began undoing their sewn threads to make her own doll, Jeff walked over and asked. “Want to train with me?”

She looked up with a smile. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet, but I don’t fight all that well.” 

“You fight well enough, you just need to be ready for a bigger fight. Cutting fingers off won’t always be the best way.” Jeff commented.

“Oh Jeffy, you haven’t seen all that I can do.” Roxie grinned. “But you’ll have to wait and see.”

Jeff didn’t say anything, nodding his head and going back to watching the kids that were currently training. Once he’s home he knows he can’t tell everyone about them, but he will damn well ensure that they will be raised like the killers they’re meant to be. 

The vision of Jeff was reflected in a glowing sphalerite stone that was large as the hand that held it, an amused chuckle escaped the holder, she spoke with a fruity tone and taunting tone. “Oh legendary killer, I figured in one way or another someone would be sent after me. But I did not realize those CP’s were so foolish to send someone so reckless.”

The cloaked figure held the crystal to her chest, squeezing it until it shattered in her hands and the shards were drenched in her blood. “I shall enjoy watching the rest of you suffer under my own power.”

As the figure looked up at the halls surrounding her, she let loose a low and dark laugh at the crystals of yellow and orange that filled the room with light and possessed the bodies of others within them. She dropped one of the pieces of the crystal and purred softly, many carved symbols on the castle walls lit up red as she chanted. “My own power is yours as you are mine, my own soul is my devotion as death is by my side. Give me a beast more powerful than the ones before, mythical or real I do not care only that their deaths shall be full of gore!”

Finishing her words a Specter grew from the crystal, black ash surrounding it before it grew and the enchantress laughed again. She raised a hand to pet the head of the monster and hummed. “My own precious pet, my demons grow hungry, wait for the CP’s and then hunt them for their souls.”

A loud roar echoed the caves, shaking many candles and crystals but the roar had not only reached through the halls, they also found their way to a person on the surface. A head raised and looked out over the hills, pulling his hood off his head. “Hear that Kishar?”

The companion snuffed and looked at the boy, its blue eyes glowing as it looked at him and then down at the lantern around its furry neck, the blue flame growing restless inside it’s glass and brass prison. The creature huffed and got to its feet, its talon claws digging into the stone as it walked closer to her friend. She let out a low growl as her blue eyes looked over the valley below them, scoffing again before turning her head to him.

“Yeah...something isn’t right..” He muttered, brushing his long pale fingers through his hair and looked to the moon. “Fuck..guess it’s time to go back then right? Give me some light please.”

The creature watched as the teen sat back down on the hillside, opening up his small jornal, and she complied, sitting next to him. The blue flame flew out from its antique lantern, circling the two with a bright light that spun so fast around them that the blue flame became a blue ring around them. With the two illuminated they could see each other properly and the snow under them melted. The wind blew but could not be felt by the two and clouds began to cover the moonlit night as small snowflakes started to fall on the snowy hill.

Kishar, was a large creature at 7 feet tall, with antlers she was 7.5 feet tall. Sturdy wolf-like legs that connected to it’s paws with black talon-like claws and bony finger appendages, similar to ones that would be like a humans. The body of the majestic beast was that of a wolf, but with a flowy long white tail similar to a beautiful woman’s, the front stretched out to a wolf’s neck but the head was that of a black skull of a deer with large spiked black antlers. The whole body was adorned with beautiful white fur that faded to grey up the neck and down the paws, and to black at the skull, antlers, and claws. Around her neck was the lantern that would hold the blue flame, and her eyes shined sapphire blue within the skulls eye sockets.

Next to her, the 16 year old wrote in his journal, occasionally petting the creature when she flicked her tail at him for attention. He had long silky black hair that reached to his neck, but it was tied back in a small ponytail with a couple strands of his hair lazily hanging down at the front of his face. He wore a grey hoodie with black and grey camo-pants and black combat boots. On his sides were his daggers in leather holsters that he had gotten from his fathers and his winter grey eyes scanned over them while he snapped his journal shut.

“Man..Well Kishar we’ll have to head home.” Malik sighed, standing up and the flame retreated into the lantern. “Hopefully they won’t be pissed at me.”

Kishar huffed, getting to her paws and kneeling down a bit for Malik to climb onto her, a low rumble escaping her throat. 

“Why wouldn’t they be mad? I left two years ago and have barely told them what’s going on.” Malik commented, getting a look from his companion. “I know they’re my friends but a couple of them can hold grudges..What’s the fastest way to them?”

She huffed again before letting out a belled noise similar to a deer, which faded into a wolfish growl. 

“You sure Kishar? If this is what I think it is I want you to keep as much of your power as possible.” Malik asked in concern. Letting out another bell she lazily shook her head, playfully knocking his shoulders with her antlers, in turn made him chuckle.

“Alright, alright.. Take me home.” Malik’s grin stretched across his ghostly white skin and gripped onto her strong antlers as she dashed down the hill.


	15. Fire Bomb!

The basement room had no sense of time, but Viper was sure it was the next night. The sheets tossed around and the candles already half way done from being lit all night and day. Viper was rubbing Edan’s back, feeling over every bruise and bite that was left on his light skin, and enjoyed the afterglow of their long session. He didn’t give a damn if the spell actually did anything, he was just glad that Edan was right next to him. Soon a tired moan came from the blonde as he slowly opened his eyes and looked at Viper with a blissful smile.

“Hey Dustie..”

“Hey there prince.” Viper purrs and leans down to peck Edan’s cheek as the teen turns over.

“Mm~ prince huh? Then are you my knight?” Edan teased, poking Viper’s bite marks from the night before. “I’m pretty sure you called me something else..”

“I called you a lot of things.” Viper smirked. “Slut, bitch, my goddess, my heart, baby.”

“Ugh you are a sap..” Edan groaned as he tried to hide under the covers but Viper only pulled them off.

“Hey to be fair, you bit me for each name I called you.” Viper grumbled. “Which I did not appreciate.”

A sly grin worked its way on Edan’s face. “You didn’t seem to mind it.”

“Well now I mind it, my body feels like it was feasted on by a piranha.” Viper growled, but Edan only giggled and sat up more.

“Oh my poor proxy~” Edan chuckled, kissing one of the bites he left on Viper’s chest. “Did this little cannibal do a number on you?”

Although the gesture was appreciated, Edan’s sassy words were not. Viper quickly pinned Edan on his back, gaining a squeal of delight from him, and leaned over him. “You know, if you’re still coherent enough to sass me maybe I didn’t fuck you hard enough..”

Edan only smirked as he reached up and licked the proxy tattoo before replying. “Gee what will this be..I think this is going to be round 7?”

The proxy slammed their lips together, drawing a moan from both parties as the two fought for dominance. A knock at the door made them stop and Viper looked over, pulling the sheets over both of them. “Yeah?”

“Hey you guys! Just making sure the two of you haven’t..tried to maim each other.” Laila’s voice called out from the other side. “We have breakfast upstairs.”

A growl from Edan’s stomach made the boy groan as he sat up. “We haven’t eaten a proper meal the whole time we were down here..”

“We’ll be right up!” Viper shouted back and got off the bed. “Damn, was kind of hoping we’d have more time. You have a shower here?”

“There’s one in my lab.” Edan replied, making an attempt to stand although his cheeks flushed red and he instantly sat back down. “um..Dustie?”

“Yeah?” Viper replied, picking up his clothes and looking back at his boyfriend with curiosity. 

“I..I can’t move..” Edan whimpered, making Viper laugh. “Shut it Dustie! I seriously can’t move!”

“Well I kept true on one of my promises.” Viper smirked as he set his clothes on the bed and took Edan’s arm. “Come on get up.”

“N-no Dustie don’t-” Edan stuttered out but was hauled to his feet, Viper catching him before he collided into his chest. The teen froze and his legs shook, letting out a whimper as he muttered out into Viper’s chest. “It’s leaking out..”

It took the proxy a moment to understand, but as Edan tried to sit down he finally got it and his face went red. “Oh fuck, uh..I’ll carry you.”

Viper quickly gathered their clothes and handed them to Edan before picking up the trembling and embarrassed teen. He quickly walked to the lab and found the separate shower stall that was stained with blood on the tiles. Setting Edan down first, he took the clothes and laid them on a clean counter top and joined Edan back in the shower. Although the situation was a surprise, a warm feeling of pride licked up Viper’s chest.

“What are you grinning about!?” Edan snapped at him, still heavily embarrassed and holding his legs closed as he sat on the floor.

“Oh just..I can’t believe I filled you up-”

“Shut up!” Edan cried out, his voice cracking and he hid his red face in his knees.

Viper however smirked and sat down with him, parting Edan’s legs and he growled. “Hey, we have another opportunity though~ Round 7 love~”

Edan’s gut dropped and he yelped as he was forced to lay back, and instinct made him start fighting to kick his lover off. “Are you fucking kidding me you fucking horny son of a bitch! How are you not empty yet?! What the fuck have you been e-eat-AH!”

Upstairs the group was happily partaking in some pancakes that Cherry made with fruits on the side from her “shopping” trip. Jeff looked at Nash and ruffled the kids hair. “Feeling better about fighting?”

“Yeah! I can't wait to fight a Specter!” Nash cheered as he moved to grab another pancake.

“What about you Laila?” Jeff asked, looking over to her.

“Better, but there’s always room to improve.” Laila replied modestly with a smile.

Talon placed a hand on her shoulder and commented. “We can practice more today.”

“What’s up my friends?!” Aya’s voice rang out as she finally managed to get Lorien inside, the poor demon having to crouch to get in but managed somehow.

“Aya! How are you feeling?” Cherry called out and ran over, hugging the girl tightly.

She giggled and coughed out. “Fully charged! How is everyone here?”

“Well we’ve been training, Edan and Viper were together all day~” Roxie winked at Aya and then went back to eating.

“Are they coming to eat?” Nash questioned out loud.

“They said they’d be up in a minute.” Laila shrugged as she flew up to Lorien and slipped a couple fruits into his mouth. “I hope they actually come up, they need to eat. All that’s probably down there are Edan’s snacks.”

“Ah the wonderful skills of a CP, going days without food.” Talon commented as he took a bite of a sausage.

“Oh kid, trust me it’s not that easy if you get used to eating at least twice a day.” Jeff scoffed. “I used to go days without eating then only eat something small or raid a fridge from a victim. It’s a lot easier when Slender cooks.”

Aya sat with them and helped herself to the food as she spoke. “I feel like I can obliterate a continent.”

“Can you!?” Nash asked, bouncing in his seat.

“Well even if she can we need her to save up her strength, after breakfast we’re going to find Malik and then the traitor.” Laila smiled, sitting back down.

“Morning guys.” Edan’s voice called out, walking out from the hatch door with Viper behind him. 

“Edan! Viper! How was last night~?” Cherry giggled, winking at them.

Viper’s mask was on so it saved some embarrassment but Edan couldn’t hide his rosy cheeks from the group. Viper spoke for him to save a voice crack. “We worked it out. I don’t know if the spell worked but we at least fixed something else.”

Edan gave Viper a smirk as he slowly walked to the table, Jeff could clearly see how Edan was trying to hide a limp, but also noted how Viper assisted him to the table. Nash was the first to speak out, looking at them with a big smile. “Are you guys back together?”

Both boys stilled, but a quick glance at each other and Edan smiled. “Yeah, I think we’re trying again.”

The kids cheered, Nash drumming his hands on the table while Laila’s wings flapped to release some of her excitement. Talon gave Viper a nudge of encouragement while Aya and Roxie were screaming in delight, Cherry only laughing at the irony. “One moment you guys are fighting like cats and dogs, the next you guys are acting like nothing happened.”

Viper waited until the noise had ceased before speaking. “Nah, we just..realized how dumb we were. It’s bullshit what broke us apart..Laila? I’m sorry I left..”

Laila looked genuinely surprised, but smiled and shook her head. “There is nothing to forgive, we all had to go on our own journey.”

“Well I’m still eating the cold treatment I gave you guys.” Edan added. “Sorry that I tried to push you guys away.”

“Look as far as I’m concerned, you guys were two years younger, naive and frightened.” Jeff joined in. “but it doesn’t matter now, you all are back.”

“All except one..” Talon muttered with a frown, the mood around the table darkened but Aya perked up immediately.

“Well I can track him now! With all the energy I have, it should be no problem, if I just-”

She stopped in her tracks when Lorien began sniffing around and growling, letting out a screech and frantically going to the doors to try and squeeze through. Laila flew over to stop him and see what was wrong but he was just trying to push himself through. The others quickly ran over to help him get out, Lorien becoming more agitated by the minute until he finally slipped through and charged at something. In the dark it was impossible to see what Lorien was fighting, only that he kept trying to pin down whatever it was. A large black shadow that towered over Lorien, even when the demon grew to his full height of 20 feet, it only was half the height of the beast he was attacking.

“Edan, do you think you can spare some light?” Jeff asked and the teen quickly nodded before dashing inside. 

No less than a minute later the neon lights on the outside were on, while it was not much it was enough to show that Lorien was fighting with a large dog-like creature. Talon gasped and shouted. “It’s a Black Shuck!”

“A fucking what?” Viper growled and took out his gun. “It’s a damn Specter.”

“A black Shuck is a mythical creature from England’s lore.” Talon explained. “A dog beast that brings death wherever it goes.”

“None the less it’s a Specter!” Laila said before opening her wings, flying towards the demons.

The dog-like monster had mangy black fur and large white teeth with orange saliva dripping down, and its eyes a piercing orange. The beast ranged at 40 feet with powerful paws and flicked its tail at Lalia when she got too close. Jeff looked to Talon with a questionable look. “Ok please tell me I’m not the only one confused..first it was a dragon, then scorpion, spider, people, a damn snake, and now a mythical dog?”

Talon looked confused as well, shrugging as he replied. “Maybe different needs for battle?”

“Hey! Could you two actually help us!?” Viper shouted as he avoided being stepped on, aiming his gun as best as he could, but Lorien and the Shuck were locked in battle.

The two demonic creatures continued to slam into each other, Lorien not having much to stand on, was easily pushed away but could dodge any of the teeth the dog attempted to bite him with. Cherry grinned as she made the chainsaw appear in her hands, a trick that was similar to LJ pulling balloons and candy from nowhere, and ran over with the chainsaw revving loudly. Roxie smirked as she walked inside. “I’ll be right back~”

“Roxie!” Nash shouted out, his head twitching. “Where are you going?!”

“Aya, Talon, get inside and take Nash with you, you need to save your energy.” Jeff ordered, when she was ready to protest he only snapped at her. “Inside now!”

Edan came running out, while Talon and Aya ran in with Nash in her arms, running to the fight and shouting out. “Give me a lift guys!”

Viper was the first to hear him and put his gun away before cupping his hands together and lifting Edan up as he stepped his foot on the interlocked hands. Cherry was the next to react, cutting into the Shuck’s front left leg and making it scream as it bent forward, even if the wound wasn’t deep it surprised the Shuck. Edan easily climbed up the monster’s front leg, gripping at the fur as he began to look for the gem, only hanging on tighter as the Shuck jumped up and lunged at Lorien. Cherry had to jump out of the way from the giant paws as it attacked Lorien, the demon was pinned down by the dog but used his purple tendrils at the end of his wings and wrapped them around the Shuck’s neck to hold it’s teeth away from his body.

Laila watched with horror, unsure what to do and flew down, landing on the demon dog's muzzle and jabbed her pocket knife into its nose. However this Specter threw it’s head up fast, knocking Laila right off its nose and freeing itself from Lorien’s grasp. Viper took this chance and aimed at the Shuck’s chest, shooting three bullets into the monster’s torso and making it step off of Lorien, but only grew angrier. Laila managed to catch herself mid air before looking to Jeff, who just stood there and watched, like he was..observing. Edan couldn’t find the gem and decided to let his rage and blood lust consume him as he bit into the demon's neck, but the orange crystalline blood burned against Edan’s lips and forced him to pull away in disgust.

Cherry spun before swinging back into the left front leg and jamming the saw blades into the wound she already made, but the demon hound pulled its paw up and slammed it back down, Laila collided into Cherry to keep her from being crushed. Edan was preparing to climb to the head but the Shuck suddenly moved onto its two hind paws before slamming its front paws into Lorien’s wings. Lorien let out a scream of pain before biting into the monster’s shoulder, but it retaliated by biting Lorien’s cheek and threw the demon to the ground. Edan lost grip and fell off the demon, screaming from the sheer thought of dying from such a height. Viper was quick to teleport to Edan before teleporting back to the ground and he gasped from the strain, it takes a lot of energy to teleport far distances and it was something he did not practice.

Jeff watched, itching to join but wanted to see if the kids could handle this, he was so focused on the fight that he didn’t see Roxie come out with a few of her stuffed animals and toys that were stitched together in odd forms. Setting them down the dolls began to walk and soon morphed into dolls with sharp teeth and ran towards the fight, Jeff taking notice when the dolls ran and looked at Roxie with shock. She only grinned and shrugged. “I figured it out. Aya and Talon are helping me make more, I don’t think six dolls will last long.”

He only nodded and watched as the dolls latched onto the ankles of the monster and ferociously bit chunks of fur and flesh off the monster. Laila quickly lifted Cherry into the air as the demon started stomping around more to get the dolls off, leaving it distracted long enough for a very bloody Lorien to slam into the Specter and sink his teeth into the throat of the monster. However, Lorien’s teeth were not as long or strong as the Shuck and it only made the monster roar before smacking the demon off, and even with a chuck of its neck gone it continued to pin Lorien down.

“Drop!” Cherry ordered and Laila let go, the Cherry colored hair girl landing on the monster's head and shaving her chainsaw into the head, but it struggled to dig through all the flesh of the creature's head.

While it was irritated, the Specter continued to bite and step on Lorien as the demon let out a growl and evaded the teeth, trying to take another chunk from the dog’s neck. Cherry continued to try to dig into the skull but struggled to keep the chainsaw and herself steady with the Specter moving so much. The dolls were long forgotten and were flicked off quickly, Viper and Edan analyzing the situation together before Edan spoke. “We need to find the crystal!”

“It’s no where on the body!” Viper growled in frustration before running under the beast and unloading a magazine of bullets into the monster’s stomach.

The bullets were either not felt by the Specter or it didn’t care, because it finally opened its jaw wide and dug its teeth around Lorien’s neck, biting the throat of the dream demon. Jeff felt his body finally move, running towards the group as the kids stared in shock and horror. Laila could hear her own heartbeat and something within her surged and she dived down at the beast, landing on its face and ignored the blinding light of its eyes and stabbed her knife into the right eye. Cherry began running down the Specter’s head and neck, dragging the chainsaw across its body and making rivers of orange blood pour down the black fur. Edan ran over to Viper’s side and grabbed his wrist, the proxy quickly teleported both himself and Edan to Lorien’s side, and Viper shot at the left eye of the monster. 

With the combined attacks, the Specter finally got off Lorien, shaking its head and paws savagely to get everyone off its body and stood on two legs as it started to tip backwards. Laila quickly flew up and grabbed Cherry, making an attempt to fly away but the force of the body landing made a gust of air that made Laila drop with Cherry and drag across the ground. Jeff arrived by Viper and Edan, the two already looking over Lorien with sadness and fear. Jeff moved to the demon’s face, his eyes closed and he gently touched the orchid blood covered cheek. “Lorien? Lorien come on bud get up.”

The four that were hiding in the building all ran out, not understanding what happened but could see the Specter slowly rolling over onto its paws again. On the ground Laila was unconscious while Cherry was frantically trying to get her to the club for safety. The entire parking lot was destroyed, concrete lifted and the garage pummeled, and even the trees that connected them so closely to the forest were uprooted or crushed. In the time they were in the club, Aya had made a temporary spell that hid the club away from any human’s eyes but it would not last all night long.

“Lorien!” Roxie cried out, the three looked to the demon on the ground with Jeff and Edan standing by his figure while Viper ran towards the Specter. Talon took his own path to Cherry and Laila, his shock wearing off quicker than the others.

Nash’s heart clenched and his eyes began to tear up, his body began twitching like mad and he ran inside. Aya and Roxie sped over to the fallen demon and upon seeing Edan sobbing over the dark body the girls were choked up. Jeff’s gaze turned to one of hate, looking at the Specter while Viper, who had begun shooting heatedly at the monster, slowly began moving closer. A low growl, that echoed like a chuckle escaped the demon along with a fresh pool of blood from its mouth, its tail swaying like a sick dog was enjoying a new toy. Cherry and Talon had moved Laila off to the side, Talon checking over her head and holding her close. “Laila? Come on damn it, open your eyes!”

Seeing her friend’s head bleeding, Cherry turned to the beast and charged at it with her chainsaw revving with orange blood and fur splattering on the pavement. Roxie glared at the monster and dropped her newest dolls, there were only three but she needed to take care of Edan and Lorien. “Aya, help me check on Lorien.”

“But that-that monster-” Aya growled, her eyes significantly glowing brighter.

“The others will kill it.” Roxie said firmly and patted Edan’s back. “Edan go check on Nash-”

A sudden shriek from the Specter caught everyone off guard, Jeff, Cherry, and Viper stopped moving closer as fire began to climb up the Shuck’s front right leg. Nash was no less than 10 feet from the massive Specter as he lit a Molotov and threw it higher to hit the stomach of the black fur. As more fur caught on fire, the Specter began to panic and tried to shake the fire off its body, soon moving to the ground and rolling around. Jeff grinned and decided to stand back a bit longer seeing Viper and Cherry run to the body and continue their assault on the weakened monster, Nash continuing to light up the Shuck with firecrackers and alcohol. 

Aya stopped looking over Lorien for only a second, seeing out into the distance and gasping as she saw a blue portal appear. From the portal a large wolf and deer hybrid creature came out, and someone riding on the unknown hybrid. “MALIK!”

Roxie and Edan looked up in shock as Malik climbed off the creature and ran over to them. “Fuck, what happened to Lorien?”

Wiping the tears away Edan answered, pointing at the Specter. “That fucking Specter killed him.”

“We don’t know that.” Roxie replied as she waved Edan closer. “Edan get over here, Malik, see about destroying that monster.”

Aya’s jaw was slacked as Malik walked closer to her. “Y-you..you’re really here-”

He smirked and gave her a wink. “Looking good Aya. We’ll talk later! Come on Kishar!”

“Kishar? Who’s-” Aya was about to speak but the hybrid ran over, and Malik climbed onto the creature.

Jeff only turned for a second but was shocked to see an antlered creature charging towards them. The Specter was still trying to swipe or bite at the kids around it, fire continued to climb on the body with Nash’s constant bombardment and Cherry dug the chainsaw to any part she could hit. Kishar ran forward, jabbing the antlers into one of the beasts legs and making it scream, its eyes were still bloodied so it couldn’t see but still attempted to attack whatever hurt it. Malik smirked and took out his daggers, beginning to climb the monster’s legs by jamming the blades into the flesh and Kishar jumped away, she ran to Cherry and belled to her.

Cherry quickly understood and smiled, climbing onto the mythical CP. “You’re the friend Malik wrote about!”

Kishar let out a bell that soon changed to a howl, running to the front of the Specter and the flame from her lantern escaped into the sky, it landed on the neck of the monster and lit fire wherever it touched. The Specter madly threw himself around, Viper having to teleport to Nash and get him out of the way while Jeff ran back to Lorien’s body. The blue flame continued to consume the body and Kishar stopped in front of the beast, belling loudly at it to attract it’s attention. Blindly, with blood seeping out everywhere, the Shuck roared and leaned forward to bite at Kishar and Cherry, only to have the CP leap onto the head of the monster and Cherry climbed off to join her brother.

He stabbed his daggers into the open wound Cherry had made with her chainsaw, smirking up at his sister. “Mind helping me out?”

She grinned back, flashing her sharper teeth and revving the chainsaw again to slot it right into the wound she had made. The specter cried out in pain, trying to bite at Kishar who ran around it and continued to make noise to attract its attention. Laila had soon come to from Talon’s persistent shouting and shook off her blurred vision, only able to tell two figures were on the head of the monster. She got up and shook the blood out of her eyes before flying right at the Specter, her hearing ringing so loudly that she couldn’t hear Talon’s demands for her to come back. Cherry felt her chainsaw go deeper and the Specter shot up, nearly knocking the kids off but Malik slammed his blade beside the chainsaw and the Specter began to gag and let out a guttural scream.

Cherry gasped as she began to slip off, her brother quickly grabbing her arm as she let go of the chainsaw to hold onto his arm. With the dagger still in the skull of the Specter, he held on tightly and then smirked seeing a familiar flash of white. “Laila! Catch!”

On instinct, Laila dove at the two as he let go of the blade and Laila took his free hand, with all the adrenaline the weight seemed like nothing to Laila as she flew away from the body that fell to the ground. The gust shook them around for a second but Cherry dropped when she was close enough to the ground and Malik landed first to catch Laila, who was still blurry eyed from the blood. The body of the Specter began to decay, the orange blood that painted the area began to steam and evaporate into the moonlit sky. Aya could feel the spell on the area weaken as she watched the large form decay, seeing she would have nothing else to worry about.

Jeff ran over to Cherry, the girl unable to walk straight after the fight and gripped onto him as he lifted her into his arms to bring her to the others. Battered and tired, everyone made their way to Lorien’s body that also had begun to decay. Edan grunted and had his hands in the chest of the demon, Roxie helping him keep the flesh open. “One more Edan!”

Edan growled and pulled back hard, Talon coming close and helping him, a ripping sound was heard by everyone and Laila lifted her gaze to see a small figure in Edan’s hands. Tears began to well in Laila’s eyes as she stumbled over. “Lorien!”

Edan smiled as the small demon opened his eyes, he had reverted back to his 9cm or 3.5 inches form. Laila quickly took the demon and hugged him tightly to her chest, her sobbing all the while and clutching the hummingbird skull necklace with the demon. “B-but how-”

Roxie giggled. “He is a dream demon, not only do the dreams and nightmares keep him fed, but the more people that are dreaming the more energy he has. Turns out he can be small again, but only if his larger forms are destroyed.”

Lorien squeaked, nuzzling into Laila’s chest with glee and Talon sitting beside Laila and petting Lorien’s head. “Welcome back buddy.”

Edan looked around them and sighed. “We better get out of here..as much as I hate to do this, we can’t stay at the club anymore. With all this damage there’s no way to cover this up..I guess I’ll let Damien take ownership here..”

Aya’s hand moved to Edan’s shoulder. “I’ll help you pack up..”

“So will I, we might as well take what we can.” Viper agreed and put a hand on both Edan and Aya before teleporting them inside.

Nash ran over and hugged Malik’s side, crying loudly. “Malik! I’ve missed you so much! Did you see what I did?”

“You did amazing Nash! I saw the molotovs! Your arms are getting stronger aren’t they?” Malik complimented as he kneeled down and brushed away the boy’s tears. 

Nash gave a big smile and Jeff let Cherry down as she squirmed to hug her brother, she hurried over and Malik stood up tall to embrace his sister. Where she was 6 foot tall, Malik was around Jeff’s height, possibly still growing but was still a bit smaller than his sister. “Malik! Great timing!” 

“I try.” Malik smirked. “We’ll talk later, we might want to help the others pack up.”

“Uh Malik, before that.” Cherry started and moved to let him focus on Jeff.

Jeff watched as Malik’s cheeky expression changed to one of surprise, his winter grey eyes widened as he stepped closer. “Papa?”

“Well kinda..” Jeff muttered, he was still trying to comprehend how damn similar Malik looked to him. The only difference between the two was Malik was about a half-inch shorter, had eyelids, and no cheek scars. Otherwise, they could’ve been twins! 

“Jeff came from the past to help us.” Cherry explained softly. “He’s hunting down the person that killed our family.”

Malik suddenly changed to a serious look and said. “Good, Kishar and I have some information actually on the CP.”

Roxie, Nash, and Lorien were petting and welcoming Kishar, the creature happy with the attention as Laila commented. “Wow.. the eleventh CP, you might even be under a legendary class.”

“Are you kidding? Did you see how she fought! She has to be a legend!” Nash cheered, circling the CP.

“This is some interesting magic..” Roxie mumbled, poking the lantern with the flame still shining brightly.

The body finished dissolving, people on the sidewalk starting to take notice of the destroyed lot, the twins collected their weapons quickly before the group started inching their way towards the forest. It was several minutes before the kids came out with bags of supplies and the whole group joined back at the lot, Kishar opened a blue portal and everyone crossed through to the forest where the mansion was burned down. Jeff watched as Malik made orders for everyone, setting up a fire, getting food ready, and having Edan take care of the ones that were most wounded. Thankfully the only ones that sustained major wounds were Laila and Cherry, Edan leading them to the lake to tend to their wounds and Lorien flew after them.

Jeff sat at the stump of a tree as he watched the kids getting the camp set up, they all seemed so happy and carefree when seeing Malik. Finally Malik and Jeff’s eyes caught and the kid smiled at him, walking over and sitting next to Jeff. “so, how are the others? I’ve probably missed a whole lot in the last two years.”

“Oh kid...you don’t have a fucking clue..” Jeff sighed, finally letting tension out of his shoulders.

At that moment Jeff began to tell Malik everything from his arrival there to when Malik showed up, one by one the kids came back to them to join in, Laila now had a gauze wrapped around her head to stop the bleeding on the side of her head. Once they all finished chipping in and adding their parts of the story, Malik was left in shock.

“I..I had no idea that-Fuck, why didn’t you guys find me sooner?” Malik asked, then quickly cut himself off. “Never mind, there was no possible way to find me around the world..but, son of a bitch why did you all separate?”

“Things just got too complicated..I think Viper and I have a part of the blame in it.” Edan said sadly, leaning to Viper’s chest.

“It’s also my fault..I wasn’t a proper leader.” Laila added. “Malik I am so sorry for fighting with you.”

“We were younger and you took on everything Laila, I never held that against you.” Malik reasoned with a smile. “I’m just glad to see you all are ok now.”

“We’ve missed you a lot.” Roxie spoke out fondly, staying near the fire to keep warm.

“I missed you most!” Cherry claimed, hugging her brother before smacking the back of his head.

“I promise I won’t leave again Cherry.” Malik laughed, a warm laugh that even made Jeff feel calm and happy.

“Let’s all sleep.” Aya suggested. “I think we’re all going to be drained and tomorrow we can chatter Malik’s ears off.”

“Sounds good.” Talon nodded, laying on his back and Laila laying next to him, cuddling into him as Lorien laid on her head.

With exhaustion finally taking hold of everyone and adrenaline draining from their systems, the CP group began to fall asleep one by one. Jeff continued to lean against the tree but looked to Cherry and Malik, the twins chuckling and giggling as they playfully poked and wrestled. They soon stopped and curled up together, Cherry resting her head on Malik’s shoulder as he pulled his hood up and rested his head on his arms. His eyes moved to Kishar, the CP sitting next to the fire but kept her eyes focused on the woods around them, catching Jeff’s gaze for a second and making him look at the fire. This is a new event..


	16. Awakening

Upon waking up the next night, Laila was pleased to see Talon holding her, and Lorien still on her head letting out little purrs in his sleep. She slowly turned and sat up, placing Lorien on Talon’s shoulder as she got up and stretched. Everyone around her was still sleeping except that she didn’t see Viper among the others and carefully stepped over the circle of CP’s as she went to the sound of water. Viper always had a tendency to go near a water source if he was anxious or needed to think, it was an odd quirk she found when stumbling on him and Edan years ago, sitting together near the river. And that’s where he was, by the lake again and Laila couldn’t help but smile seeing him skipping rocks.

She did not even need to announce herself as Viper’s movements froze and he looked over, lifting up his mask and nodded respectfully to Laila. Taking it as a sign to join him, Laila spent no time waiting and sat beside him. “Did you sleep well?”

“Better than most nights.” Viper said with a smile before flicking rocks towards the water again.

“You must be glad to have Edan back.” Laila commented, making the CP hum softly.

“There are some complications we still have to work out..He insists that he doesn’t need protection for one. He also says that I shouldn’t wear my mask all the time, but what if someone attacks?” Viper replied with a huff, lifting another rock before Laila gently grabbed his wrist.

Making sure he was listening, Laila gently spoke. “That mask is only to hide your identity, the Specters know who you are and so do we. There’s no need to wear it all the time.”

With a grumble he took his mask all the way off. “Thank you, oh great angel.”

Laila laughed and let go of his wrist. “Hey, I’m on everyone’s side. I do think you need to watch Edan still, no matter how much he wants to deny it, he’s more of a thinker than a fighter.”

“Don’t I know it.” Viper scoffed with amusement. “What about you and Talon? Things seemed to have..changed between you two.”

“He has had a long time crush, but I am still in the process of seeing him as something more. He and I agreed, we will wait until he has grown to 18.” Laila explained. “Even though it means I’ll be 22, Talon wants to get stronger before committing.”

“Stronger at what? His martial arts?” Viper chuckled. “He’s an under realm CP, he needs to be more comfortable with more than that.”

“He plans to. Talon mentioned getting a weapon, but he’s not sure what yet to use.” Laila answered before standing. “I’m going to get some food. Want to join?”

“Nah, I need to think a bit more..so much has changed now. Edan is more independent, Malik is back, even Nash is braver. And you Laila, you’ve...you seem to be wiser.” Viper spoke, his eyes seeming to search hers as he remained sitting. 

Laila only smiled and shrugged. “People change, you’ve learned to listen and stop thinking about your identity as an expendable pawn. Just as Cherry has learned that she cannot live without her brother and be truly happy.”

Without another word she opened her wings and flew up through the clearing of trees, while Viper relaxed back into his spot and went back to skipping rocks. In the main group of CP’s Malik was the next to awaken, the teen getting up and gently moving his sister off with a snicker. In that short chortle, he caught the attention of Nash and the boy scrambled over to see the dark haired teen. “Malik!”

“Shh! Easy Nash!” Malik chuckled, grabbing the boy and hugging him. “It’s good to see you.”

Nash buried his head into Malik’s chest and nodded. “It’s good to see you too, but..do you know anything about who took our parents from us?”

A frown crossed Malik’s lips. “No bud..but I think I know how to find them.”

“What is that thing?” Nash asked, pointing at Kishar. “It looks like a wolf deer.”

Malik snorted a bit but let loose his laugh. “Yeah, something close to that. She’s a Legendary CP so be polite to her.”

“Wow..” Nash smiled. “Can I see her?”

“You can but don’t be surprised if she kicks you away. She doesn’t have much exposure to kids.” Malik lightly pushed him off, the green haired boy sprinting over and climbing onto the back of Kishar.

Nash laughed as Kishar startled awake and slowly turned on her side, making the kid scramble to get off before she rolled onto him. Laila entered the clearing and smiled seeing Nash playing with the CP, looking at Malik as he just watched. She only was able to collect some berries from the winter weather but figured it would be better than nothing, placing the collection of berries from her hands to a flat stump. She then grabbed the bags they had retreated with the previous night and pulled out some of the nutrient bars and waters that were collected. “Morning.”

The greeting made Malik look at Laila and he moved closer. “Morning Laila, went to get food?”

“Yep, we’ll need our strength. We’re fortunate that Viper picked up some food before we left the club, but there’s only so much. I will probably need to fish later in the lake, thankfully it’s not frozen over.” Laila nodded, moving around and began to wake everyone up.

One by one, the CP’s stirred awake and Malik readied himself to talk. Laila came around to each person and handed off food to everyone, by this point Viper had returned and sat with Edan, the group slowly coming together. Aya looked to the middle where Roxie began piling sticks up and waited until she moved to whip one of her golden strings at the sticks, catching them on fire instantly. Jeff got closer to the fire and glanced at the twins, as Cherry hugged her brother once again and the two started jabbing and playfully pushing at each other. After making sure everyone had food, Laila sat with Talon and spoke out. “well..I think we should figure out what to do now.”

“Agreed.” Jeff replied and turned his head to Malik. “But before that, Malik, how about you tell us about your friend here?”

Kishar’s head popped up and nodded to Malik, making him smile and look at everyone. “Alright. Kishar here is a Legendary CP. She denies being a CP because she’s never met our family, but there is a legend surrounding her. Kishar has a form of power that allows her to speak to one person mentally, whoever she connects with first. She connected with me when we first met because she knew I wasn’t human. The lamp around her neck supplies Flame Divination, or pyromancy, telling good and bad omens. Her origins are from Mesopotamia and traveled the world, and if coming across hunters or people trying to catch her she kills them and eats them. Those fortunate enough to live will be cursed to get a burn somewhere on them if they speak of meeting her.”

“Wow, Mesopotamia~” Roxie whistled. “That was a really, really long time ago!”

“And you’ve lived all these years, you must have crossed the world five times over!” Cherry praised her. “Oh! Did you ever see our parents in action?”

Kishar rested her head down again and Malik shrugged, answering for her. “She normally stuck to the forest, accidentally crossing through our forest when I found her. That’s how I could go to several countries around the world, her magic allows her to teleport vast distances.”

“Wow, I read about Pyromancy, it’s such old magic.” Talon commented. “Not only old but hard to use, it was originally only meant to help predict fortunes.”

“Yeah, she’s turned out to be a pretty good fighter too.” Malik chuckled, making Kishar grumble in her spot and her tail flicked in agitation.

Nash pet the skull head of the CP and then asked. “Can you teach me to use fire magic?!”

“Nash you’re already good with chemicals, we don’t need you to use fire magic as well.” Aya giggled. “Talon is right, fire magic is difficult to use.”

“So Malik, have you come across Specter’s on your travels?” Jeff asked, still trying to get over the boy’s mirrored looks.

“I traveled around because I thought that the Specter’s would be everywhere if they were spies, but they’re only here. Only in this city. However, Kishar informed me this city is the only city with dark magic. Sure there are ancient areas around the world with magic of all sorts, but only Specters are found here. This CP that we’re looking for is using more than just Candle or Imitation magic. This CP is using magics of all kinds except for one, white magic. A pure magic, and they’ve given up on using magic such as Scapulomancy and Geomancy.” Malik explained further, taking a bite of a nutrigrain bar that they got from Edan’s supplies..

“Does that mean something?” Edan questioned as he looked to Aya and Talon. “Just because they don’t use one type of magic doesn’t really mean anything, they sound even worse than we anticipated.”

“It does unfortunately.” Aya sighed. “White magic is strong but if they don’t or can’t use white magic that means they are just more powerful with dark magic.”

Edan played with a lock of his hair as he muttered. “Even so, with Specter’s only being here that means either the traitor knows we’ve stayed the whole time or-”

“They’re somewhere in the city.” Viper finished, glaring at the ground. “That also explains why I couldn’t track where the Specter’s were coming from, the traitor must be somewhere in the city.”

“Maybe they’re not.” Roxie spoke out, gaining everyone’s attention. “Dark magic, crystals, isn’t it obvious? They’re strong enough to teleport and have probably been sending Specter’s to different parts of the city.”

“Then how do we find them?” Nash asked with worry, moving away as Kishar stood up.

The CP belled loudly, making her own portal behind the group and Malik smirked. “Kishar is right, we just have to make our own portal. And I bet you that this traitor-ass CP is hiding in Zalgo’s realm.”

“If that’s so, Talon knows that whole place inside and out, he can lead us around.” Laila smiled, her wings twitching with anticipation. 

“Hold on guys.” Jeff called out. “Before we get ahead of ourselves..that CP took over years ago, the castle could’ve changed, or added security. There could be thousands of Specter’s.”

“I don’t think that will matter.” Cherry said. “I may not know much about these magic rules and shit, but either way when we enter the realm they will know we’re there. As a CP they’ve probably tuned their senses even without having security there.”

“And depending how quick or strong they are, their security could be made in an instant.” Aya joined in again. “Cherry does have that point. We need to physically and mentally repair ourselves before we get down there, we’re walking in blind.”

“Not to mention the heat.” Viper shrugged. “I haven’t been there but I remember hearing my father complaining about how hot it was and compared it to Hell.”

“Is there anyone who suffered heat stroke?” Jeff asked, only seeing two hands raise, that being Aya and Edan. “ok then..you guys stick together when we go, Aya can you use your magic to cool yourself and him?”

“I’m sure I can find something.” Aya nodded and smiled. “I can’t believe we’re almost there..”

“When I find this person I’m going to tear their fucking head off.” Viper growled as he pulled his mask on and got up. “I’m going to start training.”

“I’ll go with you.” Edan said as he followed Viper, the two entering a jog as they moved farther away from the group.

Kishar snuffed and turned the portal off, stretching her limbs before walking closer to Aya and belled again. Aya glanced at Malik in question, the boy smiling. “She says she wants to help you with your magic.”

“Oh!” Aya quickly got up and walked with Kishar deeper into the woods, glancing back with hope someone would come with.

“They’ll be alright. Come on sis, let’s see if I can still kick your scrawny ass.” Malik challenged and stood up with Cherry as she cackled.

“Sorry bro, but do you see how tall I am now? You’re the one that’s going to get beaten into a pulp!” 

She tackled her brother and the two began wrestling on the ground for dominance while Jeff smirked as he watched them. It was true that while Cherry may be faster and more flexible, she did not have Malik’s strength or dexterity with a weapon. Jeff watched for a bit while Nash and Roxie took this chance to start working on a doll army, and both Talon and Laila agreed to find a weapon for the under realm boy. Jeff continued to watch his future kids, Cherry easily flinging Malik off her and the boy retaliated by grabbing one of her legs and dragging her closer before trying to lay a punch on her. She was quick to grab his fist with one hand and wrist with the other, twisting the arm enough to flip onto her brother.

“Who’s the stronger one now bro?” Cherry grinned and let out a yelp of surprise as her brother flipped them over again. 

“Not yet sis!” 

The two had amazing potential to be cold blooded killers, the two were practically at that point and continued to roll in the grass and dirt. With a chuckle, Jeff got up and sneered. “Come on you two, I’ll show you how to really fight.”

Quickly they moved off each other and stood, both giving big smiles at Jeff as he said. “Ok now I’ve heard you both fight together, so let’s get you two practicing against me.”

“Are you sure you want to do that Jeff?” Malik smirked. “You could get hurt.”

“Let’s find out then.” Jeff challenged as he took his stance and his kids followed his example, he debated taking out his knife but saw no reason to get more injuries before the big fight.

Malik was the first to react, charging at the older CP and swinging a fist down to hit Jeff’s stomach but his arm was caught by the CP. Before Jeff could do anything else, Cherry jumped over her brother and kicked Jeff in the head, sending him spiraling to the ground. In a daze and shock, he looked up at the twins that shared a bro-fist and smirked at him. Jeff grinned and stood up. “Not bad.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Malik answered as he popped his neck and Cherry stretched her legs. Jeff had no doubts in Malik’s words, and he was eager to see what they would give.

Edan and Viper continued jogging in the woods, slowing to a stop as they took a break by a birch tree. The two caught their breaths as Edan leaned his back on the tree and smiled. “I missed jogging in the forest..”

“No one was stopping you.” Viper pointed out as he leaned on the tree as well. “You were stuck in your own club.”

The blonde bit his lip, feeling shame creepy up and crossed his arms. “yeah..I can’t believe that I tried to hide. Sure the money and popularity was great but..well I feel like I was hiding myself.”

The proxy took off his jacket and rested it around Edan’s shoulders, the boy smiling at the gesture and pulling the coat around himself more. “Well Edan, welcome back, now you’re stuck with the CP’s.”

He barked out a laugh and nuzzled the side of Viper’s mask with his cheek. “Promise?”

“Promise.” Viper lifted the mask and nuzzled back, moving a hand to grab Edan’s and pecking his ear softly. “So long as you keep me from running off.”

“It’s a deal, Dustie.” Edan chuckled and playfully bit Viper’s neck. It didn’t need to be said between them, the physical affection was a silent reassurance of their love for each other. Both could remember how their parents would find their friendship odd, and at an earlier time Hoodie and Masky kept Viper away in fear of the cannibal harming their son. However, as wolves do, the two had a silent understanding, the animal-like instincts that allowed them to tell how to approach each other and tell how each other were feeling without a word. It wasn’t long before they went back to their jogging, silently challenging each other to race.

Not too far from the camp, Aya had nervously sat with Kishar, the CP was nothing but quiet and barely looked at the younger one the entire time they sat together. Aya sat awkwardly, choosing to close her eyes to meditate across from the hybrid CP. It didn’t take more than two minutes before her nerves got the best of her and she cracked one eye open to see the blue eyes staring at her, making her jolt back in shock. “Y-yes?”

Kishar did nothing but laid on her side and her tail flicked, for what Aya assumed to be an invitation to sit with her. She scooted closer before carefully laying her head on the fur of Kishar and sighed happily, closing her eyes again. While closing her eyes, the hybrid CP opened the flame from its lantern and the flame began dancing and swinging on the antlers of the beast. While it danced around in quick flashes, it stopped short of Aya’s head and then hung above her, light blue shimmers falling and absorbing into the snow white hair of the girl.

While Talon and Laila wandered the forest, Laila kept making suggestions of different weapons, but none seemed to strike Talon as “the right one”. Lorien flew around happily, occasionally bringing a twig to the two for one of them to throw. He didn’t seem discouraged at all by his small size, in fact he seemed rather joyful being able to fly in a giant forest. Laila wasn’t disappointed with Talon, but she was agitated because there were only so many weapons that could be found in the woods or in the city. “Talon, what kind of weapon are you hoping for? You didn’t like the idea of a knife, sword, or even a crossbow. There are only so many weapons in the world.”

“I know but..there was a weapon I remember in Zalgo’s realm. I would stare at it for hours and always ask to hold it, but of course Zalgo said no everytime..” Talon replied, scratching the back of his head. “I don’t know what it’s called.. It was like a double sword. A place to hold in the center and two blades stretching out from the middle.”

“A swallow sword?” Laila asked curiously, fiddling with her necklace again, feeling the grooves and curves of the skull. “Wait, why that?”

“Well, as a kid I used to try to prove myself that I could use it. That’s why I got into martial arts, there were plenty of weapons I could learn to use, and I used a staff so I could prove that I could handle the Swallow sword.” Talon explained and gave a sheepish smile at her. “Silly isn’t it?”

“No of course not but...how come you never told me about this?” Laila tilted her head.

“Well mainly because I was still in training, and I guess I never thought to tell you. I mean I was really far from accomplishing my goal to get the sword, and of course when we evacuated..you know.” Talon shrugged.

“I suppose that’s fair.” Laila replied. “But I don’t know if we can find one of those swords around here.”

“No probably not..” Talon shook his head. “But..don’t worry about it, I’m sure I can find something else.”

“Why not make a staff?” Laila suggested, picking up a branch from the ground. “If we find a branch that’s sturdy enough I could carve it out.”

“I don’t think this wood will be strong enough, Bo staff are normally made up of wax wood, red oak, white oak, rattan, graphite, teak wood, and so on.” Talon explained as he looked over the branch in her hand. “Pine and regular oak won’t help.”

“Hmm..maybe we could go to town and find one?” Laila offered with a smile.

“No, even if we do find or make one, it wouldn’t be strong enough to kill a Specter. After seeing what came to the club last night..Well I don’t think a staff will do much.” Talon shrugged and started walking again, Laila dropping the branch and following. 

“Talon, I know you’re trying to be rational but you’re sounding more negative.” Laila commented as she frowned and put a hand on his shoulder. “You said you’d try to be yourself more.”

“I know.” Talon groaned, gripping at his blonde hair. “I don’t mean to sound negative, I'm just..I’m pessimistic. I can’t help it, in the under realm a lot of CP’s were that way, and then growing up the way we have..”

“I understand, it’s been hard for everyone. And I’m not asking you to change who you are, I just want you to take help when it’s offered.” Laila calmly replied. 

Talon smiled and took her hand carefully, holding it carefully like she was made of glass. “I will try, but as far as weapons go I need something strong for the Specters.”

“If this plan goes well, perhaps we won’t have Specters to fight. I hope we can just sneak in..although I guess that’s a pretty unlikely chance huh?” Laila responded, slipping her hand away and flexing out her wings.

“Yeah..Laila, what would you have done if we still had our family?” Talon asked, his eyes tracing over his wings.

Laila thought and wandered a bit as Talon watched her walk around, lightly kicking at a rock on the ground. “If my family was still here? well..I would fly with my mother everyday, hunt with my father when I could, improve my hunting skills. I would have loved to hunt alongside you and the others. Just simple things really, and you?”

As her violet eyes caught his blue ones his cheeks flushed and he stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Um..train to get the swallow sword and hunt with you guys really..but maybe travel to different parts of the world.”

The angel CP smiled and pet Lorien as he landed on her head to rest, she replied to Talon. “That sounds like a lovely dream..when Jeff heads home, maybe we’ll be able to do those things.”

Talon nodded in agreement. “I hope so..”

They continued their walk, their mission to find Talon a weapon turning into a mission to talk about the dreams and wishes they had. But the two were connecting in a way they weren’t expecting, even though the subject was bleak, it held hope for a better future that Jeff could fix. Back at camp Roxie and Nash watched the Wood’s family with amusement as the three continued to fight. The neon blue haired girl was stitching her dolls while Nash would take apart some for her to stitch together, but continued to laugh as Jeff, Cherry, and Malik continued to topple each other around.

The twins were a bit tired now, despite there being two of them, Jeff was still more experienced and stronger than them. However, Jeff knew he just got several new bruises from the two and smirked as he panted out. “Wow, nicely done kids. You guys do work well together.”

“Yeah well, what can you expect from your kids?” Cherry giggled as she brushed her fluffy pink hair back.

As weird as it was to hear that, Jeff knew she had a point, whether it was LJ or him that taught the kids to fight they did a good job. Jeff stood up tall and popped his back as he spoke. “Who was it that taught you guys to fight anyways? Was it LJ or me?”

“You both did.” Malik replied with a smile as he sat down by the dead fireplace. “Often times you taught me and LJ taught Cherry because of our body shapes and also personal preferences of fighting.”

“Yep! And we loved every second of training.” Cherry stretched, moving onto her hands and doing a handstand. “Of course you and dad bickered a lot about how to train us.”

“No surprise there.” Jeff chuckled as he sat down. “There’s no doubt you two will be able to keep the Specters off our backs.”

“Do you really think that it’ll be a fight through the castle?” Nash asked as he set down a doll he was tearing up.

“I think it will..we have no idea what this CP could’ve changed in the castle or what other weapons they are using.” Jeff sighed as he looked at the kid. “But for now I’m going to enjoy this peace.”

“I’m with you there.” Roxie smiled as she held the dolls to her chest. “And these will be our little spies around the castle~”

“Seriously how the hell do you pull dolls from thin air?” Malik laughed. “That is one mystery I’ve never figured out.”

“And you never will.” Roxie playfully replied. “Just like I’ll never learn how Cherry can make her Chainsaw vanish and appear.”

As if to emphasize Roxie’s point, Cherry flipped back onto her feet and spun before her arms spread wide and her chainsaw seemed to appear like magic. She giggled as she spun again and the chainsaw vanished, making Nash cheer for more. Jeff knew this trick, some of the CP’s of the mansion had other-worldly powers to make things supernatural happen. Such as LJ being able to make things appear and vanish and make hallucinations, or Jason the toymaker able to make his dolls into possessed monsters, or even Candypop able to turn invisible or walk into dreams. It was skills that just came to certain CP’s naturally from their pasts or origins, near impossible to explain.

Laughter was heard as Edan came running into the camp, pushing Cherry behind him to slow down a pursuing proxy. The clown girl giggled loudly as she hugged Viper to slow him down, the proxy quickly teleporting out of her grasp before grabbing Edan around the waist and holding him close. A deep chuckle escaped him as Edan squirmed, letting out small giggles of his own before calming down. The display of affection made Nash and Jeff gag, but Malik stood and asked. “You two have fun?”

“A good run..” Edan panted out in exhaustion as he finally slipped from Viper’s grasp. “I’m still faster than the mighty proxy.”

“Hey you only got ahead because you tripped me.” Viper huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Wow, letting your guard down for your boyfriend?” Roxie teased. “I thought you were better than that Viper.”

Edan smirked and started stretching his legs. “Well we’re having a rematch later before sunrise.”

“Hey guys!” Aya’s voice called out as she appeared on Kishar’s back. The legendary CP stopping and kneeling down to let Aya off as she continued. “Kishar is amazing! She actually walked into my dreams and taught me so much about the spells I could use!”

“I thought she might be helpful.” Malik smirked. “You’re not glowing anymore.”

“Yeah, turns out that I was still being an amature and letting magic seep out.” Aya’s cheeks flushed red as she played with her long white hair. 

“Oh good, you all are back now!” Laila’s voice sounded through the forest as her and Talon entered the clearing. “Talon and I were scouting out the area..unfortunately still no portal to Zalgo’s realm, we’ll have to use Kishar’s magic afterall.”

“Don’t worry Laila, Kishar has mastered how to use and save her magic.” Malik assured her. “A little portal spell is nothing to her.”

Talon thought before speaking out loud. “I was actually thinking about it..Zalgo had a crystal room, full of relics and other enchantments and demons. If we somehow get into that room, maybe we’ll have an advantage.”

“Or a diversion.” Roxie connected with a smile to the under realm child. “If there are still trapped demons they may help us fight the Specters.”

“Or kill us.” Viper muttered. “Not all demons can be trusted.”

“That’s why Lorien will help us.” Laila smiled as she carefully took the dream demon out of her hair. “I’m sure Lorien can speak with them.”

“I got it!” Jeff suddenly said, sitting up. “I have a plan.”

Everyone gathered and sat down around Jeff, Nash moving close to the older CP. “But Jeff, I thought that going to Zalgo’s castle would be unpredictable.”

“It is, which is why we need to do this carefully.” Jeff answered. “Most likely there will be eyes around the castle so we need to be fast and stealthy. Once we arrive in the under realm, Talon, Lorien, and Kishar will go and find the relic room. Get whatever demons you can and whatever power possible. Roxie, Laila, Viper, and Nash will be in charge of clearing the halls of Specters. Myself, Aya, Cherry, and Malik will go to the main hall. I bet you the bitch is sitting on Zalgo’s throne.”

“Hold it, what am I supposed to do?” Edan huffed. 

“Edan, you’ll need to find the power source in the castle.” Jeff replied. “I don’t know much about the under realm, but I know it can’t survive without souls. If you find out where the power source is and shut it down that might give us a leg up.”

“Uh Jeff, the Castle, the whole realm is a living realm. If you take away any source of its life the whole place could collapse.” Talon explained. “I’ve seen the room where the souls are collected, once a CP kills a human and places the mark of Zalgo, it is transferred to a giant pool. The pool is surrounded by Zalgo symbols and charms, and when the souls have processed then they feed the castle. If Edan was to somehow halt or destroy the pool, that may destroy us and the whole realm.”

“Only for a second.” Jeff reasoned. “If Edan can stall it, maybe that’s just the scare that the traitor needs. Proof that we can come in contact with its food source.”

“And you want him going alone?” Laila questioned in both worry and confusion.

“If he’s anything like his parents, he should be stealthy or tricky enough to get there.” Jeff commented, looking directly at Edan’s visible red eye.

So many emotions flashed in the eye, first surprise, then pain, doubt, fear, but all was only shown for a second before pride and determination. Edan nodded and replied. “I’ll find it.”

“Is there no way for us to stay connected through this castle?” Aya asked as she looked to anyone that could have an answer.

“I have a way~” Roxie smirked as one of her doll’s lifted its head. “My dolls can mimic our voices just like they can speak to each other.”

“Perfect, We have a long day tomorrow, possibly for the next two or three days.” Jeff started then stared intensely at the kids. “This is the time to prove you’re CP’s. I don’t want anyone holding back. If you hold back or hesitate, they will kill you, this will be a fluid fight. Even if one of us falls, don’t all go rushing to them, your kindness may get you killed as well.”


	17. Reality Is Tricky

Dream walking was a skill, or an art to some demons, to Lorien it was a mission. Said demon was flying over a crystal terrain, thousands of crystals lined up and around into a landscape of color and semi-transparency. Landing on one of the crystal platforms he looked around more before letting out a rumbling purr that echoed in the crystal paradise. He waited for a minute longer before his head perked up to the sound of a deer-belling through the shimmering terrain. He crawled around carefully, turning his head to look at a crystal and froze to see Kishar on the other side, stepping around to face him.

“I must say, you are very courageous for crossing into my dreams.” Kishar purred out, her voice both regal and gentle as she continued to walk and tilted her chin up to show off her antlers. 

Lorien trailed after her and let out a low groan, making her face him again and shake her head. “Why do you not harness the abilities you have in dreams? As a dream demon you can take whatever form you want in a dream, even speak.”

While the demon knew this to be true, he normally didn’t because there was no one to talk to in dreams, and no point in giving himself a different form. However, Kishar noticed his hesitancy and stopped walking, she turned to him and slowly morphed her body into a woman with a long white A-line cocktail dress that covered over her feet. Her skin was a pale tone and her eyes a shimmering sapphire blue, her slate grey hair shimmered with black and silver as it flowed down to her mid-back. “You can shift too, if you want.”

He thought a bit longer before following in suit, morphing his body into the form he was most known in his earlier years. He shifted to a human male of around 6 foot 3, a well toned body with an average build, his skin was a coal black with his orchid eyes still glowing. Along his body were cracks of purple and his nails were more of purple claws, his black hair was short and shaggy. Lorien coughed as he opened his mouth to speak, clearing his throat before speaking in a smoky voice. “Did..you know I was here?”

“It is easy to tell when someone enters my mind.” Kishar answered, walking slowly and Lorien quickly joined her side. “The question I have, is why?”

“Ah well..” Lorien coughed again as he explained. “I was curious..when I was created it was only a few years when man was created. And for you to say you came from Mesopotamia lore..it is lucky of you that you had somewhere to belong before.”

“You seem to forget that demons like yourself are born from dreams themselves.You manifested into the dream demon that eats both good and bad dreams, and just as all demons, they live by their source. Whether it is souls, dreams, something tangible or metaphorical.” Kishar added on, smiling at him. “You have been lonely for many years.”

“Lonely, then Zalgo had me trapped.” Lorien nodded. “Even before being trapped I was not very happy, while I did enjoy my freedom, there were not many other demons to speak to.”

“I understand, I think every demon feels lonely if they are not familiar with other demons. That is why I left the Mesopotamian, being revered as a god only had so many perks, but companionship is not one of them.” Kishar admitted. “What happened after your imprisonment? Clearly you did not stay trapped forever.”

“Ah, my friend and savior was Mara, one of the Creepypasta’s. Or well, human when she found me. She had saved me for seeing me as an unmalicious demon and I suppose I couldn’t part from her or the family.” Lorien smiled, looking around the crystal environment. “Out of the dreams I’ve seen, I’ve never seen one of pure crystals.”

“My world always looks like this, you could say I have a thing for such beauty. When I was made it was in a cave of many glittering gems and rocks. What about your dream world Lorien?” Kishar asked as she brushed out some of her grey hair.

“I have no world of sleep, when I rest I become a phantom of sorts and explore other dreams to see or devour.” Lorien answered. “Dream demons have no dreams of their own.”

“I see, I must admit, meeting Malik has been an experience. I had hoped to meet his family but then he explained about everything that happened to the Creepypastas. I feel as if the battle will not be as simple as Jeff makes it..” Kishar expressed her concern softly, her eyes looking to the ground.

“It never is.” Lorien agreed. “I’ve already seen it before in person.”

“Then is there anything you can advise them?” Kishar asked, looking at him.

With a shake of his head Lorien started walking again and looked at his black fingers. “No, I have nothing I could advise. Every threat I’ve ever come against has always been unpredictable. Humans, other demons, CPs. It’s always different, the only things that change are the difficulty of the enemy.” 

“Is that so..” Kishar asked. “It is strange to see you like this when you seem so playful around the kids.”

Lorien let out a low scuff and grinned. “I guess I just like to protect others and think positive, or well that’s out it seems after meeting Mara. I won’t deny I’ve screwed around in Zalgo’s dreams for revenge.”

Kishar smiled and walked closer, looping her arm with his. “I can tell you and I have much to talk about, are you full enough to talk tonight?”

“I think I can skip eating tonight.” Lorien smiled as a low purr rumbled in his chest and he walked alongside her, the two continuing to talk about their times as younger CPs and demons.

The sun was up, and Laila was no where close to falling asleep. She could pick out that it was anxiety and fear, when the stars begin to show later, that is when they will be after this CP. It was probably 11 in the morning as Laila stood up and flexed her wings, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her wings. She began to walk to the east from where the sun rose and opened her wings wide before launching to the sky. For whatever reason, flying was not easing her heart no matter how much she enjoyed the sun with the chilly air, or the smell of the forest and clean air. 

As she flew she jolted and flapped her wings frantically to keep herself in one spot as she looked at the ground. A shadow zipped around under the trees and she quickly flew after it, staying above the tree line but doing her best to watch the figure. In a chance of bad luck she lost the figure under the pines and landed on the ground, looking around again for the person or thing. While she checked her surroundings she was surprised to see fog coming in, especially so late in the morning.

“You’re quite a flyer aren’t you?”

The fruity voice asked and Laila jumped as she spun around, opening her wings wide in an attempt to look bigger. In front of her was a cloaked figure that was leaning on a tree, and spinning a lead pipe in their left hand. Laila kept her distance but slowly closed her wings before asking. “Who asks?”

“A friend.” The voice spoke again, this time unclipping the cloak and taking it off to reveal herself.

Laila was unsure what to think of the woman in front of her. She carried a masculine stature and ranged around 5 foot 7, her arms covered in bandages and past scars. Her clothes resembled that of a poor stature and wore black flat shoes with puffy grey pants that reached to her knees and tan socks that met the ends of the pants. A dirty tan shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to her shoulders was accompanied by a grey vest and purple tie. The woman had white hair that was short around her face but in the back formed a tail to her knees, her fern colored eyes looked dead and had dark bags under her eyes as well. In her mouth a cigarette was emitting a small trail of smoke, and scars were covering the woman’s face as well, the most disturbing part to her was the markings around her neck. It was as if the woman had been previously hanged.

“A friend? I’ve never met you before.” Laila replied skeptically. “Especially since all other CP’s have been destroyed.”

“Oh no, your family is very much alive.” The woman spoke in a monotone voice.

Now Laila’s defenses dropped, her eyes widening with shock and confusion. “What..? how do you know? Where are they?”

“They are in the under realm, and I know because I’ve been watching the Specters.” She replied as she moved off from the tree, swinging the cloak onto her shoulder as she stepped closer.

The angel CP lifted her wings again, making the woman stop in place as she glared. “More like controlling them right?”

A chuckle escaped the white haired woman. “You’re very smart, I supposed I should’ve expected that from Mara’s child.”

“How do you know my mother?” Laila demanded. “Enough with the stalling! Tell me who you are and how you know of my family!”

“Quick and smart, but impatient.” She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “You may call me Harmony.”

“Harmony huh? That’s a bit of an oxymoron considering all the pain you put us through.” Laila scoffed, keeping her wings open. “There was not a hint of mercy or care in what you did! You’re nothing but a selfish bitch!”

“Mercy?” Harmony tilted her head. “A quick and almost painless death..that is how I show mercy. But I do not lie when I say your parents are alive, just suffering quietly.”

“What’s happening to them?” Laila asked, crossing her arms as she glared at her.

“They’re magic is being drained, and since they cannot die their souls are drained and filled then drained again.” Harmony replied, crossing her arms behind her body. 

Laila snarled at Harmony and launched at the woman, her wings spreading wide and flapping once to get her up higher, only grabbing Harmony’s lead pipe as she swung it at the angel CP. The woman easily twisted and threw Laila off her pipe, the CP staggered but her wings moved in time to keep her from landing on the earth. Although as fast as she was flung from the pipe, she was just as quick to throw herself at Harmony. The CP moved to hit her with the pipe but Laila grabbed her shoulders and shoved her to the ground, snapping the air out from her lungs as the younger CP continued to flap her wings. With her body weight, force behind her arms, and her wings flapping madly to behind her, Laila had successfully pinned the CP down.

Harmony’s eyes shut, her eyes irritated by the debris that was flying around from the white wings, but squirmed around enough to move her hands to Laila’s arms and chuckled. Laila was about to interrogate her about what was so funny, but her wings froze mid-flap as something tapped into her strength. It wasn’t a feeling of growing strength, it was diminishing. Laila’s eyes widened as she flapped her wings more urgently, every second they felt heavy and she squirmed to get up and the woman’s hands off her arms. Harmony let out a sick laugh as she stood, still keeping an iron grip on the girl’s arms as her struggling began to lag and her wings were no longer moving. 

“You know, you’re very clever, but you still have a long way to go.” Harmony taunted but her expression was still still-faced. “I’m curious to see how your soul feeds my demon.”

Laila’s eyelids began to drop, her struggling coming to nothing before she collapsed on her knees, both her wings and head fell limp on her. Harmony’s expression didn’t change and let go of the girl's arms, which now had two red marks, and picked up her pipe. A golden ring appears in front of Harmony and forms a portal, jumping through and letting it vanish behind her.   
“That’s one..I can’t wait to see the others.”

The sun was shining on mid-day, the CP’s in their temporary camp covered by the shade from the trees. Sun poked through some of the branches and leaves, warming some of the kids up more than needed, but the day was not as peaceful as Jeff was hoping. Jeff was awoken by a frantic mini demon, Lorien flying erratically in front of him and letting out squeaks of Laila’s name. He groaned and sat up, popping his back as he caught the demon in his hand and squeezed a bit to make him stop yapping. “Too damn early..what?”

Lorien continued to squirm in his hand and continued to squeak out Laila’s name, Jeff having to take a minute and look at the kids. Everyone was still asleep, except himself and Lorien, and Laila was missing. Sighing, Jeff looked at the demon and let him go. “Lorien, she could have gone to the bathroom...or flying or something else that doesn’t require my attention.”

However, the demon continued to pester Jeff, tugging at the hood of his hoodie and occasionally his hair. It was a damn good thing he was small, if he was still in his large form Jeff would have to worry about getting squished or slobbered on. A growl escaped the grumpy CP and he stood up. “Alright! Let’s look for her together..”

Drowsy, staggering, and eyes still adjusting to the light, Jeff made his way through the forest with Loiren flying around him and sometimes ahead of him to seek out Laila. Jeff was just finally gaining some more footing when Lorien flew up to his face, his wings flapping with panic and grabbing at one of Jeff’s locks of hair with his tendril and tugging Jeff along. Although it was annoying, it was probably the only way for him to show Jeff what he was so excited about. Stepping over a root of a tree and his body froze up as he saw Laila on the ground, in hope that she was asleep or enjoying the sun he shook his head. “Laila? Hey kid what are you doing?”

Getting no response, Jeff panicked and ran over to her, Lorien flying over Laila and whimpering. Jeff turned her over onto her back, having to arrange her wings so they wouldn’t bend incorrectly. “Hey! Princess, get up!”

He was growing irritated, both from sleepiness and worry, and hauled Laila over his shoulder and began to walk to the camp. Lorien kept look out as Jeff carried the unconscious girl, now starting to think she was sleep walking before passing out on the forest floor. Once arriving at camp he laid Laila down next to Talon and checked her pulse, blood still pumping through her body. Jeff sighed and looked at Lorien as the demon sat on his shoulder and looked to the CP with worry. “Bud she’s still alive, we can ask later why she was out there.”

Lorien let out a small whine before jumping down and curling on top of Talon’s blonde head, Jeff moving away to lay back in his spot but stopped as he peered at Laila’s arms. Two red and purple markings identical on each arm and made Jeff kneel down once again to examine them. He was no doctor, but he’s seen and created enough wounds to tell what they are. “Handprints.. Someone grabbed her..Edan!”

A groan came from the boy that was burying his face into Viper’s chest, Jeff only becoming more persistent and grabbing the kid by the ankles and giving a hard pull to yank him from Viper’s grasp and wake him up. It worked a little too well as Edan woke up and screamed, which resulted in a slow wake up for the other CPs. Viper was next to wake up from hearing Edan’s scream, aiming his gun at Jeff but sighed as he saw who pulled his boyfriend away. “Jeff, what the fuck?”

“Did something happen?”

“Jeffy-”

“Shut up! It’s too damn early!”

The protests and curious calls from the kids didn’t pull Jeff away from his worry of Laila as he dragged Edan to the unconscious girl. “Edan, I think Laila was wounded by someone.”

“Did Talon kick her in his sleep?” Edan yawned as he rubbed his eyes, accidentally smearing the black goop around his cheeks.

“I don’t kick in my sleep.” Talon objected as he sat up and yawned, Lorien flying around the boy in panic. “Lorien what is it?”

“Aya, Kishar, you two get over here as well.” Jeff ordered as the creature and the pale phantom girl sluggishly came over.

While Edan looked over Laila’s wounds, Kishar leaned her head down and nudged the girl and examined her body. Aya crawled over and put a hand on Laila’s shoulder, frowning instantly and looking to the others. “She feels so cold..”

“But she’s not dead, I checked-” Jeff spoke up, frustration making him on edge.

“No, she’s not dead just..cold.” Aya replied. “Give me a second..”

“Well, she was grabbed.” Edan concluded, letting go of her hand. “Someone was holding on pretty hard too, her wings are also all ruffled.”

Talon was now suspicious and commented. “Laila always cleans up her wings before bed and right in the morning.”

“Could she have fought a Specter?” Nash asked curiously, coming closer but stayed behind Edan.

“No, Specters are not sadistic, they feel nothing and fight to kill. They wouldn’t have left her alive and in such good shape.” Viper replied, having the most contact with the creatures.

“Aya, can you tell what’s wrong?” Roxie asked quietly, patting her dress down.

“It feels like..like she’s drained, like she has no soul.” Aya tried to explain. “It’s...there’s regular souls, but CP souls are immortal and therefore they keep coming to life. We’re obviously not granted with immortality, but it’s like someone tried to take her soul and failed?”

“But who could’ve done this?” Cherry asked, leaning over Laila’s unconscious form before looking at her brother.

Malik sighed as he said out loud. “I’m afraid to say..it might be the person we’re after. When I came to the club, a few hours before I felt something off. That off feeling is what brought me back. Kishar, can you wake her?”

Kishar stared at her young companion before looking at Lorien and nodding her head, Lorien landing on the CP’s skull head before closing his eyes to slip into Laila’s subconscious. In the meanwhile, Talon had gotten to his feet and was in front of Malik, demanding answers. “Ok wait a second, you said you felt something off? The hell does that mean!?”

His hands up in defense, and stepping away a little from Talon, Malik shrugged. “Look, I just felt something weird, living with Kishar has made me open my senses I guess. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just felt something was wrong, and the laugh I swore I could hear it myself. Kishar believes it has something to do with Jeff or LJ giving me a form of power.”

Jeff thought quietly to himself, sure LJ had a lot of abilities and he had his own skill, but neither of them had the ability to hear voices from another dimension. All he could conclude it to was intuition, something Jeff relied on a lot. Looking back at Laila, who began to wake up, he stepped closer and said in a small whisper. “Laila? Laila, wake up.”

Laila stirred and Edan helped her sit up, her violet eyes seemed to have lost their luster and her wings hung limp and heavy on her back. Aya had taken her hand off but her gold strings slipped out from her fingertips and touched the hummingbird skull that Laila treasured, the strings moving the necklace in front of the girls eyes and smiling as a spark shone through the violet pools. Her hands clasped the skull and Laila’s breathing began to pick up, looking around in fear and then looking at her arms. “Harmony..”

“Harmony?” Cherry asked, tilting her head. “Who’s Harmony?”

“Harmony, she’s the CP that-” Laila stopped and quickly stood up, alarming the others as she staggered and Edan stood up quickly to steady her. “I-I pretended to pass out so she couldn’t kill me..”

“Laila easy, just explain what happened.” Edan said, firmly but quiet nonetheless, his hand still gripping her arm.

“I-i was flying this morning, I thought I saw something..” Laila gulped. “Harmony, she’s the CP we’ve been after, she has our parents!”

“Our parents? They’re alive?” Nash asked as he got up and gripped his sleeves. “Where are they?”

“Nash calm down, she’s still trying to process this.” Viper hushed, although he was close to caving on his own curiosity and desperation for answers.

“She did something..” Laila spoke almost in a gasp of air and lifted her wings slowly. “I feel so weak..heavy..”

“Laila.” Jeff called, making her look at him as he ordered. “Fly.”

Her wings lifted, but as she tried to flap them, there was no energy to lift herself even an inch off the ground. A painful gasp left her as she gasped for air and shook her head. “I-i can’t..I can’t fly. I barely feel like I can fight..Harmony did something I think she tried to take my powers.”

“You do not have powers though.” Roxie commented. “Your wings are part of you-”

“It’s not your power.” Aya suddenly said, glancing over the angel CP. “She must have tried to take your soul. A CP’s being is in their soul, their immortality, powers, and very life.”

“Will it heal?” Talon asked, but seeing Aya’s reluctance to answer he shouted at her. “Will she heal!?”

“I don’t know!” Aya quickly yelled back, calming down quickly upon seeing the surprised looks from her friends and she repeated quietly. “I..I don’t know..”

Laila’s expression was downcast as she sank to her knees, Edan helping her down and saying. “So, she can just stay up here right? She doesn’t have to come to the under realm.”

“If we leave her alone someone could attack her, maybe even kill her this time!” Jeff snapped. “She has to come?”

“And what? Get herself killed down there?” Viper hissed. “Up here she has a chance, but if she can barely stand she can’t protect or defend herself from Specters.”

“I’ll stay with her!” Nash volunteered, trying to catch the others attention but only managed to get Roxie and Cherry to hear him over the rising voices.

“Nash, we couldn’t leave you and her alone.” Cherry replied softly. “Someone with more killing skill needs to stay with her.”

“I could.” Roxie suggested then looked at the guys in irritation as they started a shouting match with each other. She placed her index and thumb tip in her mouth and let out a loud whistle to catch their attention. “Enough!”

As they all went quiet Roxie sighed and took a look at everyone to analyze how they were. Obviously everyone was tired and thus cranky, otherwise there was growing concern and guilt, fear and anger rising with everyone. The neon blue haired girl took a breath before saying. “I will stay with Laila, that still leaves the rest of you to go to the under realm and fight.”

“If she recovers then you both should join us.” Malik added. “Kishar can get back to you quickly if you call for her.”

Laila sighed but nodded. “It’s what we can do..If I go I’ll only slow you guys down.”

“No, I am not leaving you up here-” Talon started to argue, only to have Laila look at him with vexation. 

“Talon, look at me. I am not strong enough to follow and fight Specters. Viper is right, I will have more fortune staying up on the earth realm with someone. If my soul somehow revives and I can fly or have even the strength to fight, then I’ll come down.” Lalia vented with exhaustion. “Everyone..back to bed, let’s sleep and by the sunset you’ll be going to the under realm..”

There was no room for argument in her voice, making the others begrudgingly move back to their spots to sleep. Many resumed their sleeping position, but now everyone had the same problem that Laila had at sunrise, no one was willing to sleep. Lorien slept first along with Kishar, the two re-entering Kishar’s crystal world in their human forms, the demon pacing around with frustration as growls and thunderous rumbles rang out from his throat.

“I should’ve stayed up, I should’ve been on look out.” Lorien snarled to himself.

“Lorien, this was her choice.” Kishar pushed, stepping closer and grabbing his arm.

His head turned to her with frightening speed, his eyes crazed with anger and fear. “Do you know of this Harmony?”

Mournfully she shook her head, her silverish hair swaying. “No..all of my years have been me being alone. Even if I had met her it would have only been a second, and even then I do not recall a CP named Harmony.”

Lorien’s long orchid tongue flicked out from between his teeth, mimicking the clicking of a human in agitation as he hissed. “There must be something we are missing..you did not ever meet the CP’s and yet, you are immortal and considered one.”

Kishar sighed, letting go of Lorien’s arm and walking ahead of him, the demon following her steps to hear what she had to say. “Creepypasta is only the name of a human phenomenon. “A confusing and supernatural turn of events” as they call it. The Council are more superior beings, but nonetheless they are the same as most of what we are, soul stealers. We kill to live, and for my immortality the price is to collect souls.”

The demon processed this, the woman before him stopping in her tracks and turning to him as if waiting for a reply. Taking a moment before he grumbled out. “So..the key to immortality is the collection of souls.”

Kishar nodded as she continued. “Creepypasta’s have become immortal before meeting the Council. Zalgo for example, he is a demon, immortal because of his deals and gaining of the souls. Just as the Council requires souls to live, and that explains why your family need to kill so much, not only because it is in their nature but because they must.”

Suddenly it clicked with Lorien. “That’s why the Council banned love..there weren't enough souls collected for them to live.”

“I do not know what your family has gone through, I do remember witnessing the genocide though.” Kishar spoke softly, stepping closer to the demon and placing her hand on his shoulder. “I know that your friend Laila..she will not gain her powers until Harmony is dead or releases her soul back to her.”

Lorien looked angry but felt defeated, feeling failure for not protecting his best friend's daughter as he swore he would. Kishar gently moved her hand to his cheek and rubbed her fingers along his skin, this caught his attention but he didn’t look much happier. The female CP sighed as she said softly. “You did what you could, these things happen, and right now we all need our rest to fight this enemy.”

The night had approached quicker than anyone really anticipated, the CP’s still somewhat tired after the unwelcoming wake up call from their sleep. As the sun began to set, Laila was awoken by a scraping sound, opening her eyes to see Talon sharpening a long stick with her pocket knife. She wasn’t concerned when he took it off her, only sitting up more and saying quietly. “Decided to go with a stick after all?”

“Better than nothing.” Talon replied with a shrug and tapped his fingertip on the sharp end before handing the pocket knife back to Laila. “How do you feel?”

“Like I woke up after a Thanksgiving meal.” Laila tried to joke, but even her voice felt dry. “I don’t think I’ll be going with you guys.”

“When I find this Harmony bitch I’m going to tear her to shreds..” Talon grumbled, holding the stick close.

“Talon, you need to focus on freeing demons. You can take her apart later.” Laila replied calmly, too tired to fight him. 

“Laila..if we make it through this do you think our parents will be ok?” Talon questioned.

“They’ll be alright.” Laila promised, full heartedly and with hope. “Just stick to Jeff’s plan.”

“And what is your plan? Just sit in the forest and wait for a Specter to attack you?” Talon asked full of spite.

“I know this isn’t ideal, but if I can fight then I need to wait with Roxie here for a portal to open.” Laila answered, ignoring the spite. “Talon, I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?” Talon raised a brow as he looked at her.

A hand carefully pulled the necklace off from her neck and handed him the metal hummingbird skull. “If you see my mom before me, give this to her.”

“Laila..shouldn’t we wait until we find them?” Talon asked, refusing to take the necklace from the outstretched hand.

“It has protected me long enough, I need to rely on Roxie for this fight. Maybe, it’ll give you some good luck.” Laila smiled a little, keeping her hand out for him.

Slowly Talon opened his hand and let her drop the necklace into his, pulling it to his chest before putting the necklace on and letting the skull fall on his chest. “Thank you Laila.”

“Welcome Talon..” Laila nodded, looking to the others as they all stirred and slowly got up as the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

Nash woke up and crawled over to Laila, nuzzling her stomach as he hugged her. “Be safe Laila, and make sure to come find us.”

“I will Nash.” Laila promised and petted him, enjoying the affection.

Jeff stood up, watching as Viper pulled Edan up onto his feet just as the others woke up and picked themselves up. Malik took this opportunity to plant a small kiss on Laila’s head and nodded to her. “Good luck angel.”

“You as well trouble 1 and keep an eye on trouble 2.” Laila teased, letting go of Nash as the boy picked up his bat and walked to Cherry’s side.

“Oh please, Jeff is the one that’s going to be watching both trouble makers.” Roxie commented as she looked to Cherry and Malik with a grin. She began handing everyone a doll and said. “Alright, once you’re in the castle, poke the doll’s left eye and you’ll be able to wake them up.”

“Thanks Roxie.” Aya said as she looked at her weird human hybrid doll.

“Edan, do you think you’ll be alright?” Viper asked, caressing Edan’s cheek and lifting his mask for a moment to plant a kiss on the teens head.

“I’ll be fine, I think it’ll be easy to find a pool of souls.” Edan smirked as he kissed Viper’s cheek. “You just go kick some Specter ass Dustie, we’ll celebrate with our family afterwards.”

Viper smirked and nodded, placing his mask back on and joined the others for their farewells to Roxie and Laila. Jeff stood aside, not wanting to be in the way of their personal moment, looking to Kishar as she opened a portal and looked to the CP’s expectantly. Soon the kids jumped through the portal one at a time, Jeff taking a look at Laila as she hugged Lorien to her chest before letting him go to follow Talon. Roxie and Laila looked at Jeff, the angel CP giving a smile and nodding to Jeff. “Stay safe, protect them.”

“I will.” Jeff replied with a nod. “You two stay safe.”

“We will.” Roxie answered and helped Laila onto her feet.

Jeff turned and jumped through the portal, Kishar following after him. The fire of the under realm lit up in Jeff’s skin, and seeing the castle just made his fire burn more intensely with anger.


	18. Sentinel Of Darkness

Zalgo’s home was always an inferno, the castle holding a black and red aura and coloring, but it’s form had altered slightly. Instead of the majestic black and red castle, there were parts of it, towers and walls that were covered in yellow and orange crystals. A storm crackled in the realms sky and yellow strips of lightning continuously hit the tips of the tallest crystals that stuck out or shaped around the castle, somehow it seemed darker and more catastrophic than its original form. Pulses of yellow pumped through the ground with veins of yellow in the red surface, the CP’s could feel each pulse under their feet.

“Wow..so this is the under realm?” Nash asked, looking around. “It’s really hot..”

“Well actually it’s a few degrees colder than normal..” Talon commented perplexedly. “And of course the crystals were not there before.”

“This place gives me the creeps..” Edan shuddered. “Looks like something out of Dark Souls..”

“Ok enough standing around.” Jeff said as he began to walk to the castle entrance. “Let’s get in and do our thing.”

The others followed, Aya was extremely anxious and summed up loudly. “Ok, so while Edan runs off to find the soul collection, Talon, Lorien, and Kishar will go free some demons. And that leaves Jeff, Cherry, Malik, and I to fight off Harmony while Viper and Nash clear the hall of Specters? That’s not really..wise.”

“It’s all that we can do, Lorien needs to be with Talon to translate demon speak and Kishar needs to teleport them into the room.” Viper explained. “Nash and I may not be able to kill the Specters but we can at least keep them busy if Roxie and Laila join us.”

“And I’m quiet enough to be on my own.” Edan added. “Plus we need all the big power with Jeff to fight Harmony.”

“Although now that we know Harmony has to touch a person to drain their soul..maybe Cherry and Malik aren’t the best candidates.” Talon said carefully. “Let’s face it, you guys fight well together but you both need to touch the person to get in an attack. Same with you Jeff, even if you are experienced she could grab you at any time and drain you.”

“Damn it..” Jeff growled. “There’s got to be something we can do..”

“What if it’s just you and I, Jeff?” Aya questioned. “If you and I face her first then maybe we can hold our own.”

“You guys have no idea how powerful she might be.” Malik stated. “How about this, Cherry and I will follow behind but not show ourselves until the situation gets bad.”

“Sounds good.” Jeff agreed with a nod, looking to the twins as they began talking back and forth.

“If we get in and there’s hundreds of Specter’s then we’ll have a problem..” Cherry huffed. “If we alert one-’

“We alert them all.” Malik agreed. “But perhaps if we use your cherry bomb grenade-”

“We’ll be able to blind the Specters!” Cherry smiled at her brother. “And when we get to the main hall-”

“We’ll have the advantage to get the demons set free and surprise Harmony.” Malik grinned at his sister.

Jeff looked at the two of them and placed a hand on both their heads. “You two are terrifying and diabolical.”

“We know!” They called out together happily before Cherry playfully bowed to Kishar.

“This is going to be so fun~!” Cherry cackled and walked to the entrance with the large red doors. “Kishar~ you and the boys first!”

Kishar nodded, the deer hybrid opening a portal and both Lorien and Talon jumped through, her following as the portal closed. Edan shoved one of the doors open, his ears flicking at the loud creek it produced, nodding to the others before turning his doll on and taking off down a hall. Jeff stepped in after and examined the area, finding it strange by how empty it seemed, not even a single person or Specter. The others walked in, Viper picking up immediately on the strangeness of the lack of guards.

“Ok..should we stay together for now?” Viper suggested, taking out his gun as he walked ahead of the group.

“I think that would be a wise idea..” Cherry said as she looked around. “This place is cool, even with all the crystals.”

“Anyone know what this is?” Nash asked as he poked the end of his bat on the wall, pulling it away to show a black goop. “It doesn’t smell or feel sticky.”

“Nash, don’t touch anything. It might be what the Specters are made of.” Malik cautioned him, pulling the boy away from the wall.

“Let’s just get to the throne room.” Jeff said as he continued walking.

As Kishar’s portal closed, Talon was pleased to see they landed in the hall leading to the relic room. Lorien sat on Talon’s head, whimpering quietly as he looked around. “It’s ok boy, we’re safe.”

They small team made their way to the relic room, opening the door and Talon gagged as a pool of black guck pooled at his feet, Kishar staying back and growling at the goop. The under realm child pushed forward, looking around with a beaten expression at the empty shelves. Open jars were toppled over and broken on the floor, and the room that once had hundreds of gems was left with the black goop and dust. “Great..Lorien, Kishar? Any ideas?”

“Goop!” Lorien cried out as he flew off his head and looked at the ground.

Talon’s blue eyes stared at the floor and grimaced as he raised his right foot to see the goop sticking to his shoes. “What about it?”

Kishar snorted, stepping in carefully before biting into the back of Talon’s jacket with her teeth and lifted him up and carried him out of the room. The goop squished under her paws, making her growl in irritation before letting the boy go and turning her head down the hall to the trail of goop. It took a minute, and Lorien’s persistent cries of “goop” before Talon finally caught on and started walking down the hall to follow the black guck. “What the fuck is this?”

Following the path became a challenge when there were multiple halls covered from the ceiling to the floor with the slime, Talon getting more worried as they continued to wander. It seemed as if there was no beginning or end to the disgusting trail. Lorien flew around before landing on Kishar’s antlers, the legendary creature on edge and letting out a low bell. Talon looked to her as he commented. “Yeah this feels off..not a Specter or anything. What is going on?”

On the surface Roxie continued to make dolls while Laila rested on the cool forest floor, the fire was made again and the night was quiet except for an occasional hoot from an owl. Laila however, she seemed to be agitated by the lack of progress of healing, fiddling with the hem of her vest. Roxie glanced at her, giving a small smile as she chided softly. “Laila, you need to relax, worrying about the others won’t make this go faster.” 

“I know, but I hate how weak I feel..maybe I should’ve asked Aya to do a spell before she left.” Laila muttered hopelessly.

“I highly doubt there would’ve been a spell that could give you back your soul.” Roxie said, examining her doll before continuing. “Even if there was, nothing Aya would’ve been able to do in a couple hours.”

Laila sighed and made a move to stand up, making Roxie close her eyes as the girl tried to fly for the third time since the others left. Roxie silently congratulated for waiting 15 minutes this time before trying to attempt this again. Laila lifted her wings, her back straining from the nerves screaming in protest for her to rest, the CP jumping as she forced her wings to flap a couple times. However, it was all in vain and she let out a pained gasp as she fell back onto the ground with a groan.

“Laila, I suggest you continue to sleep.” Roxie commented. 

“I can’t stand to sit like this! They’re probably knee deep in blood and I can’t do anything! I can’t help them! I don’t even know if my family is ok!” Laila’s voice was wrapped with pain as she gripped her head with her hands.

Roxie frowned and scooted closer, putting a hand on Laila’s wings to pet them down. “Laila..we all want to see our families. Our parents, but we can’t until Harmony is captured or killed.”

Laila took a deep breath, her feathers fluffed up and being smoothed down by Roxie. “I just don’t know how this will end, it leaves me on edge.”

“The best stories always leave people on edge, just as the greatest legends leave the greatest generations to try and be greater.” Roxie calmly replied.

A small smile graced Laila’s lips and she sighed. “Thanks Roxie..I really hope the others are alright.”

Down below Edan was walking through the halls, but no sign of the soul room. It was not as easy as tracking a human, to where Edan had tuned his senses to track humans by smell and hearing, he had no real help finding a soul room. This was all by luck and intuition. The cannibal clicked his teeth in annoyance from finding another hall of dead ends and rooms that did not lead to the soul room. “What the actual shit? I swear I’ve looked in 30 rooms now and still no sign of the damn place..I’ll never find it in a castle of hundreds of rooms.”

A thought struck him suddenly as he looked to the black guck on the walls, a crystal formation stabbing out from the wall as well as it had yellow pulsing through it. Edan took out his scalpel before cutting a piece of the crystal off, taking it and throwing it down the hall before racing down a separate hall. At this moment he wasn’t trying to be careful with his noise, holding Roxie’s doll to his chest as he ran through the passage and stopped at another intersection of halls. There was a similar crystal on the wall and he growled in his throat seeing the crystal he cut from. “It’s a maze..guy’s it’s a fucking maze!”

The dolls from the main group began projecting Edan’s voice, loud and making the others jump from the screaming dolls. Nash was first to recover as he held up his doll and tilted his head. “Edan? Is that you?”

“No shit!” The doll projected with Edan’s voice. “It’s a maze! The castle is shifting and bending to keep us from reaching where we want to go!”

“Are you sure?” Cherry asked, now looking at her own doll with worry.

“That’s not the only problem.”

Malik looked at his doll and called back to the new voice. “What’s wrong Talon?”

“I think i’ve just picked up on what’s going on here..” Talon mumbled as he looked at the wall that had a gem absorbed into it. “The gems and demons are gone, several relics are infused in the wall. The black goo, the maze-like castle, we’re inside a Specter.”

“Are you sure? Then why hasn’t it attacked us?” Viper questioned as he looked around at the castle walls with raised caution.

“It has been attacking, but not violently, it’s just waiting for us to do something. Perhaps burn our energy.” Talon replied, looking at Kishar and Lorien.

“Or waiting for us to lose our minds.” Edan huffed. “At this rate we won’t find Harmony.”

“Well we need to!” Jeff snarled and took out his knife, striking the wall but it only shaped back to normal. “Mother fucker! Come on Harmony! Scared to face us?!”

“Jeff, don’t taunt her.” Aya spoke out. “She’s not scared, this is just her tactic. We need to find another way.”

“Kishar!” Talon suddenly said. “Do you have any magic that can kill the Specter or make a path?”

Kishar stared at the walls, her blue eyes examining them before nodding and grumbling lowly to signal him to step back. Lorien flew off from her antlers and landed on Talon’s shoulder, watching in amazement as the trapped flame from her lantern flew out and began to dash around the halls. As it came close to each wall, the castle itself was being cut through and started to burn away like tissue paper, breaching through and the walls began to shake and something crackled through the halls.

Edan moved away as the walls shook and the crystal near him started cracking and breaking, but something felt unnerving to him. He looked at the crystal again to see it breaking as a yellow liquid flowed out, Talon’s prediction being correct about the castle being a Specter, but if this was one giant Specter then where was the castle?

The CP’s all watched as the castle burned away in blue flames, only the flame returned once the castle was close enough to being burned away. Kishar however didn’t seem proud as she looked to her right and saw the other CP’s not far off. Jeff growled as the castle vanished to only show rubble around them, Zalgo’s castle was already destroyed. Talon’s blue eyes widened as he looked at all the pieces of his home, his knees felt weak and his breathing grew shallow. Edan quickly ran to his left to rejoin the others and said. “Ok now what? There’s no castle! Where is this woman hiding?!”

“There must be something still holding this place together.” Malik observed. “Those crystals must be running through the whole dimension as a form of dark magic.”

“It’s not dark magic, it’s folk..” Aya mumbled, examining her surroundings. “Harmony is giving something up..She’s giving something to this world to keep it alive.”

“Then where could she be?” Cherry called out, she was up on a ruined column and looking at the horizon of the land, but the red sky and ground continued farther than she could tell. “There’s nothing out there!”

Kishar nudged Talon with her paw, making the boy snap out of his trance and follow her with a heavy heart. Talon flew to the air and looked around but saw nothing but the ruins of the castle, then flew to Jeff and let out a squeak. “Nothing…”

Jeff frowned, worry and frustration seeped into his chest and made it hard to breathe. His eyes turned to the diamond on his knife, shining with its own brilliance and making Jeff question if he should go home. There was no reason to stay, he knew who attacked their home. A hand overlapped the diamond and Jeff turned to see Malik with an unreadable expression. The look in his son's grey eyes was similar to how LJ would look when he knew Jeff had a bad idea in his head. Jeff nodded and put the knife back in his hoodie, wiping the sweat from his forehead before looking to Aya. “Aya, do you know any white magic spells?”

“Huh? U-um yes, but why does that-”

“I need you to use a spell that can wipe out any other spells effects right now.” Jeff said as he walked closer.

Aya flinched at the request and mumbled, twisting the hem of her coat. “B-but I’m not sure-what will that achieve?”

“I’m not sure..but I think it’ll work.” Jeff replied. “But do it soon before you and Edan collapse from this heat.”

Aya casted a weary glance to Edan, who was taking deep breaths while Viper helped pin his hair back with a bobby pin. She nodded and took a deep breath before sitting on the ground, the heat from the rocks instantly making her jolt from the sweat that had already collected on her legs. Closing her eyes for a moment as she thought carefully for a spell, not noticing Kishar walking closer and then the blue flame escaped from its brass and glass prison to spin around the girl in a blue ring. Although the others didn’t know, Malik was able to tell that Kishar was lending some of her power to her and knowledge for a spell. Most of Kishar’s magic relied on the blue flame, when the flame does out then Kishar will age just like every other living thing in the world.

The pale girl opened her eyes, a yellow glow illuminating her eyes as yellow strings emerged from her fingertips and dug into the stone below her. As the ground rumbled and shook, the yellow strings changed to white as a trail of white strings shown from under the stone. As she illuminated the floor, there was a loud howl and a crack that gained everyone’s attention as the sky itself seemed to break and crumble. The horizon broke, the air suddenly turning colder and the whole realm disintegrated into a single large platform of a blue marble that was as large as a football field. The sky and under the platform was colored to a dark fiery orange, and from across them was a crystal throne with Harmony sitting on the luxurious chair. The Cp’s were in the center of this large platform, Aya continuing to hold the spell as Kishar monitored her.

Jeff finally had seen her, and her image burned into his mind, to remember who’s neck he was going to cut open when he got home. He smirked as he started walking towards the woman. “So, you’re the little shit that’s caused all this trouble.”

“Little? Don’t flatter yourself Jeffrey woods.” Harmony sneered. “Where you died at a young age, I was 25 when I became a creepypasta.”

Continuing to walk closer, Jeff continued to talk, the others hanging back in both fear and uncertainty of what to do. “So what’s the gag? You did all this just to terrorize us? Killing the CP’s a sadistic dream of yours?”

“I respect the CP ways..but your family and the Council had it all wrong.” Harmony replied calmly, almost with an empty feel. “Your strength does not lie in the shadows, it lies in blending yourself with humans.”

“And...what makes you think that?” Jeff asked, his curiosity peaked a little as he stopped walking.

Harmony slowly stood from her throne and walked down the crystal steps. “Before the Creepypasta’s came into play, we were just known as witches, demons, monsters..Only way to live was to hide it seemed, and feeding ourselves with souls was the ticket to immortality. But I have lived with the humans for centuries, there are more opportunities living so close with the inferior race. More power, the souls are collected from people who are not worthy of living.”

“So you think you’re a damn god?” Jeff scoffed. “Egotistical much?”

“Not a god, just stronger than your CP existence, I have perfected it. Just as I perfected myself.” Harmony said before stopping, the veins in her body momentarily glowing orange as something black seeped from her hands and collected on the ground. The CP’s dropped their dolls, the little sewn up nightmares running to Jeff’s side to protect the one closest to the threat, but as they got closer Harmony flicked her wrist and they were destroyed by a wave of fire.  
The same black goo that had covered the illusion castle was now collecting into chunks and morphed in front of Harmony as a demonic beast. 

Said demon stood tall on its four legs, its body was scaly with black armor that spiked down the body from its neck to its tail. The tail behind it had a strange dorsal look of a shark, small but also covered in the black spikes, the tail swung with anticipation. Long black claws dug and tore into the marble below, the legs and paws of the creature similar to that of a dinosaur. The spikes on the body momentarily flicked up, showing the shiny black skin beneath the cover as it let out a growl. On the cheeks of the reptilian-like demon, two mandibles judded and curved in front of its mouth, sharp as a blade and on the nose of the beast two smaller spikes stuck out. It had four eyes, two larger glowing orange orbs in the front and the two smaller ones right behind the larger eyes. 

The mouth opened, showing its orange flesh inside and orange drool leaked out, as it dripped onto the floor the saliva burned into the platform. The beast almost chuckled, its body around 6 feet tall with it’s canines ranging about 5 inches, its tongue flicked out as it coated its teeth with acidic saliva. The bulky monster let out a thunderous roar similar to that of a crack of lightning and loud enough to make the CP’s cover their ears and the dimension rattled, even Aya’s concentration faltered slightly. Harmony hummed and petted the side of the beast. “This is my demon, the beast that has improved my thoughts of life and way of living.”

Jeff glared and snarled at her. “If you want to fight us, I suggest you change this dimension back to the way it was.”

Harmony continued to wear a still-face, looking at Jeff then to the kids far behind him. “I have a better idea..Let’s make a deal.”

“Deal?” Jeff grumbled. “The fuck are you talking about?”

“You and I shall fight, but my demon fights the kids that I select.” Harmony explained. “If you and your kids win, then I shall release everything. The soul of your angel and the souls trapped that are feeding my strength.”

“And if we lose?” Jeff questioned, glancing at the demon beside her as it licked it’s lips.

“Then your souls are mine.” Harmony replied, her eyes flicking down for a second before back at him. “And the diamond you carry.”

Jeff thought carefully before nodding his head, looking over at the kids with sympathy as they seemed to understand perfectly from the distance. He looked back to her and nodded. “Bring it on..”

Harmony nodded, and the dimension around them faded once more back to the ruins and the harsh climates of the realm, Aya let out a cry of pain as her spell was violently snapped from the strings from Harmony taking control again. Kishar’s flame jumped back into the lantern as Malik hurried to Aya’s side and helped her lay down. Jeff quickly ran to the kids and said quickly. “She’s going to pick some of you to fight her demon, I’ll try to take her down in the meantime.”

“Jeff are you sure that’s a good idea?” Nash asked, his eyes filled with fear as he looked over to the approaching demon.

“You kids will be fine, stay together and fight for each other.” Jeff ordered before turning around to see Harmony on her throne again, but this time crystals broke through the ground and surrounded them in a field no larger than that of a basketball court. Taking a deep breath, Jeff started walking to Harmony, glaring at the demon as he passed the beast.

“First, your legendary and demon must go to the surface.” Harmony’s voice boomed as she spoke to everyone, Kishar growled but scoffed for Lorien to hop on before she jumped through her portal. Harmony continued only once the portal had closed. “I would get your bearings now CP’s, this is your only area to fight in and you have more than just your own lives at stake.”

“What are you talking about?!” Viper demanded as his eyes continued to flick from Harmony to the demon.

“Look at the crystals surrounding us.” Harmony said, causing Jeff to look back at the kids but his view was blocked as more crystals spiked up from the ground. 

The CP’s took this time to look and all of them were shocked to see their family members inside the crystals, Jeff shocked the most when he saw himself in one of the many crystals. He grit his teeth as he turned and yelled at Harmony. “What kind of bullshit is this?!”

“In order to keep my power I need souls, what better souls are there then the immortal ones of CPs? They only just need a few days to revive before I can drain them again, keeping them imprisoned.” Harmony explained, her voice monotone as she spoke.

The kids were so shaken from the faces of their family that they didn’t notice how close the demon was before Malik felt it’s heavy breath on his back. They all snapped out of it as Malik jumped and turned to face the monster. Harmony huffed and took out a pair of brass knuckles and continued to speak, her voice echoing to the others. “The lives down here are not the only ones at risk, my Specters will find your angel and seamstress as well and destroy the city you’ve come to know.”

“That wasn’t part of the deal!” Jeff yelled, taking out his knife.

“No, but they are on the surface world, what happens to them is not your concern.” Harmony replied coldly. “As for who will face my beast, I chose the little boy named Nash, the cannibal Edan, and Talon. The rules are simple, kill my beast, Aya will heal only two people in the whole group. And there are only two swaps allowed.” 

The kids looked at the beast, not able to see past the crystals to stare at Harmony, and they quickly huddled into a group. Malik muttered softly. “She’s trying to get the less experienced fighters out..Only two swaps, and Aya can’t use her magic to help us.”

“Shouldn’t you and I just swap with two of them now?” Cherry asked as she looked to Nash and Edan with worry.

“Nash can hold his own as well as Edan, and we already know Talon is going to bring a big fight.” Viper commented. “I say, the moment you get the chance you twins need to step in.”

“You don’t want to fight Viper?” Nash asked as he stared at the proxy.

“I do better advising from a distance. I have better analysis skills.” Viper replied. “I am not going to be mad for not jumping in this fight.”

“That means that only three can be out at a time..” Aya mumbled, finally sitting up. “I’ll do my best to take care of you guys.”

“Talon.” Malik looked at the teen, who’s head still hung low. “Are you ready?”

He raised his head, a fire that no one’s ever seen in his eyes was ignited in his blue orbs as he let out a growl. “Let’s pulverize it.”

Edan nodded and took out his scalpel, saying quickly to Nash and Talon. “If you two can distract it, I could climb onto it and try to find a weak spot.”

The two nodded and followed Edan as he walked closer to the beast. The three stood about 10 feet away from the demon as it continued to growl and its tail swayed expectantly. Harmony and Jeff had also separated themselves by 15 feet as they continued to wait for the signal to fight. Harmony looked up before letting out a loud whistle and the demon roared at the children, the sign to start. Jeff wasted no time to charge at the woman that had caused all this chaos, this knife taken out in a flash as he pointed the blade out to slash at her. Blood dripped out from the wound that Harmony moved up to defend herself with, the blade sticking out from the other side of her right arm, but she made no sound of pain. Jeff was momentarily stunned and yanked the knife out before moving to attack again, but he was greeted with the brass knuckles on her left hand came in contact with his stomach and caused him to cough and stagger back. Harmony looked at the wound and watched it heal from the cut, leaving a scar behind as she looked back at Jeff. “That was pathetic, I expected more.”

The CP snarled and charged again with his blade, but for every swipe he made at her, she would counter with quick hits and dodges. Even when he did cut her, she would only heal, this was not going to be an easy fight. The beast on the other side of the crystal wall lunged at the kids, the three scattered while Cherry, Viper, Aya, and Malik stepped back to a corner of the arena. Nash was now in full fight or flight mode as he held his bat tightly, the beast was focusing on Edan first, the cannibal backing off at the bites the beast continued to do.

Nash ran forward, quickly swinging his bat down then up and hitting the demon right in the jaw, the force strong enough to launch the head of the demon 90 degrees up. The victory was short as the monster roared at Nash and tried to bite him, Nash barely having time to stuff the end of the bat in the demon's mouth to protect himself. The teeth sunk into the bat and Nash’s eyes widened as he was picked up and flung, sent flying into the crystal wall as the beast released the bat from his mouth and swiped his tail, knocking Edan onto his back from the brute force. Talon gritted his teeth and ran right at the monster as it turned it’s head to see his attacker, attempting to slice the boy with one of it’s mandibles. Two hands, two mandibles, and the blonde CP quickly grabbed them as he let out a yell and started to shove the demon back. 

He was steadfast, the demon trying to twist it’s mandibles free from the boy’s grasp, but with every move of his head the teen used it to his advantage to hold the monster at an uncomfortable angle. The mandibles dug into the palms of Talon’s hands, but he didn’t mind the pain and continued to shove the demon back. Edan quickly got back onto his feet as did Nash, the two running to assist Talon, although both unsure how. Nash realized how he could stun the beast, but it would only last seconds, Edan’s eye flicked to Nash and shouted to the younger. “Attack!”

It all happened in seconds, Talon let go, Edan dashed to the left, Nash had swung. It was all in unison, Talon slipped under the beast as Nash slammed his bat right into the jaw of the beast, a sickening crack was heard as Edan jumped onto the back of the demon and stabbed the scalpel right into its neck before pulling the blade across. The jaw hung limply open but a guttural cry was heard from the demon as the force from the bat actually rattled Nash to the core and he staggered back and fell on the floor. Talon had moved fast enough to get out from under the beast as it began to shake furiously and try to shake Edan off, but the cannibal was stubbornly wrapped an arm around its neck and continued to dig the scalpel in.

The cry of pain seemed to have sparked something in Harmony’s eyes as Jeff attacked again, a flicker of emotion that was there and gone in a flash but he could identify it. Pain. He smirked as he took this chance to dig the knife into her gut before finding the strength to remove the knife and stab her consistently in the gut and chest. She barely could retaliate until one strike when she grabbed his wrist and clocked him right in the jaw. His teeth snapped together and Jeff was thankful his tongue wasn’t in the middle as he moved back to look at his work. Although blood dripped on the floor, Harmony’s wounds continued to heal much to Jeff’s annoyance, the only way he would win this fight is if the kids killed the demon first.

On the surface, Laila’s eyes snapped open as she saw Kishar and Lorien heading to their small camp, Roxie’s dolls littered around her in a small pile. Roxie looked up as well and then stood up as they got to the camp and skidded to a stop. “Kishar? Lorien? What’s wrong?”

“Fight!” Lorien shrieked as he flew off Kishar’s antlers and right into Laila’s arms.

Kishar snuffed and raised her head, looking off into the distance of the trees before growling. Roxie activated her dolls before sending them out in different directions, looking to Laila and Lorien as the angel listened to her guardian. It was tough for her to translate every word that Lorien would switch too, but she eventually pieced it together and clarified. “The others are fighting a demon? And Jeff is fighting Harmony?”

The small demon nodded quickly and Kishar turned her head to Laila, letting out a loud bell as she tilted her head back to the forest. Roxie then caught on and asked. “There’s something out here isn’t there?”

The legendary CP nodded and then moved closer before kneeling down for the girls. Roxie smiled before helping Laila onto the back of the CP. “you go, get to the under realm.”

Laila looked at Roxie in shock and then handed Lorien off to her. “You’re not staying alone. At least have Lorien with you.”

Roxie smiled and watched Kishar stand before taking off into the forest, her pink eyes looked to the small demon and calmly stated. “We’re going to have a fight on our hands, I would appreciate it if you’d grow to your full height.”

“Hai!” Lorien cried out as he flew from her hands before turning bigger and Roxie giggled at his eagerness.

Laila held onto the fur of the majestic CP, thinking a bit before saying. “Before we go help the others, we need to help our family..Talon still has no weapon and we need to see if they need us. Take us to the under realm.”

Kishar knew fully what she had to do, and she knew that Laila only had so much strength. Opening a portal she jumped through into the under realm, the flame jumping out from its cage and flying under Kishar before breaking into four pieces as a paw platform for her as she ran across the red sky. The CP knew exactly what Laila wanted to do first.


	19. Our Blood is Salvation

Edan let out a gasp of pain as he was flung off from the demon, letting out another gasp as one of the demon’s hands raised to slice into Edan. The attack was quickly halted by Talon sliding under and making an “X” with his arms to hold the claws back for Edan to scurry out from underneath. Nash made a move to come forward to retaliate but the demon hand pulled its leg off from Talon and swiped at him, Nash blocking the swipe with his bat. The demon's jaw was still broken and it made Viper question from the side about why it wasn’t healing as fast as most Specters could. If only he could see over the crystals..

A scream left Edan as the demon turned and one of its mandibles punctured into his side, making Nash and Talon freeze for a minute. That minute let the large armored tail swing and smack Nash and Talon to the ground while the demon threw Edan off its mandible. Viper tensed and watched as his lover was flung into the crystal and blood splattered against the orange rock and then pooled around Edan as he fell to the ground. Aya had to grab Viper’s arm to prevent him from running forward and quickly said. “Edan knows his limits, he’ll let us know when he needs to tag out.”

But something felt different this time, it was as if everyone could hear each other's heart beats, even Jeff from the other side of the crystal wall. Something was triggering their Killer Instinct. Malik knew this feeling, he had never used his killer instinct before but knew how it was supposed to feel. Looking up he grinned as he saw Kishar above them with Laila on her back, but he said nothing and looked back to the fight. “You guys aren’t going to let this demon bully you right?”

That was like a whip on the back as Talon was the first to strike, grabbing the mandibles once again and shouted angrily at the demon, violently twisting its head side to side to try and break something from the beast. Nash got up once more and used the bat as a pole and vaulted on top of the demon, leaving the bat on the ground as he took a firecracker from his pocket and a lighter from the other. The monster continued to struggle to knock the boy off and remove the grip that the under realm boy had, but Talon continued to hold on and dug his feet onto the ground. 

Blood began to seep between the mandibles and Talon’s hands, but he didn’t have to hold on much longer as Nash lit the firecracker and reached down, shoving the firework into the broken jaw before retracting his hand and wrapping himself around the demons head to hold the jaw shut. Talon then let go and the demon began to buck and jump around to shake Nash off, but the boy was stubborn and continued holding on despite the pain from his hands scraping against the monster’s teeth and armor. Edan slowly moved onto his feet and held his side, calculating his time before running to the frantic demon and diving at its legs, managing to grab one of the front legs and make the beast look at him and by that one action it was too late. The firecracker exploded and Nash let go, he was used to burns as it was and the demon opened its mouth and let out a thunderous roar that had the kids covering their ears. The inside of the mouth had been charred and it was bleeding heavily from its mouth, its eyes narrowed and Edan could tell it was done playing around. He moved to get off but the demon had bit into Edan’s shoulder and flung him into Nash, making the boys skid across the floor, and his tail swung, hitting and pinning Talon into the crystal wall.

Cherry flinched, feeling annoyed she couldn’t jump in, glancing at her brother to see if he was feeling antsy. To her surprise he looked calm, he was observing, but he was far from annoyed or antsy. Despite her being the more unpredictable one, CP’s were often caught off guard when they found out she had Jeff’s temper and Malik had LJ’s patient view. She forced herself to relax, watching with dismay as Edan carefully stood and Nash ran forward, picking up the bat he had discarded before. The demon had moved just in time that his tail swung at Nash right as Nash had curved his bat to hit the tail, the armored tail and wooden bat met, but the bat cracked and splintered as it broke in half. Nearly losing his footing, Nash was in awe at the strength but that awe turned to panic as the beast lunged at him, only to be stopped as it was dragged back with Talon’s strength as the teen pulled the beast back by the tail. It swiveled and roared as it moved to bite into Talon, and it had succeeded biting into his arm, but Talon retaliated by ripping the scalpel that was abandoned earlier in the monster's neck and stabbing it into the first right eye of the beast. It unlatched its teeth from his arm and Talon stepped back as it growled and shook its head to get the scalpel out.

Edan watched although his side was throbbing, putting a hand over it he thought to himself. “It’s not healing..why can’t it heal? Is Harmony using its power? But a demon would never jeopardize itself for a human..unless..”

Jeff swung and sliced the blade right through Harmony’s neck, dodging as she turned to hit him. He seethed as the cut only healed again and he stepped back to catch his breath. This was becoming tiresome, all the heat, the constant healing, what was her game? Sweat dripped down his cheek with the blood from his slits and he could feel all the bruises on his body forming larger from her constant assaults. Harmony stopped, she didn’t even look tired and said. “Tired already? I thought you were better than this.”

“What the fuck is your deal?” Jeff panted out. “You want to be civil? Where are you from? How do you have this power?”

Harmony looked conflicted, as if unsure if she should tell him, but what would she have to fear from him? “Alright..we can take a break. I was born in what you call the Medieval era, I was very poor, I was a very troublesome person. My village hanged me on the accusation of witchcraft, but they didn’t kill me fast enough. My demon, he has come from the same ancient soil as your ancient CP, only he granted me immortality in place of me killing souls for him to feed on.”

Jeff soaked this all in, trying to find a sliver of information to use. “Demons normally don’t care about humans.”

“My demon is different..he knows I will always win.” Harmony replied. “He will give me his strength so long as I need it. But I won’t need it for much longer.”

Jeff’s eyes widened in understanding but it was too late, she let out a loud whistle and the wound he had recently made on her arm had stopped healing. “You trade off who gets the power.”

“And now that you have already worn out most of your energy, he will need it more than me.” Harmony explained before running at him and throwing a punch. 

Jeff was quick to duck before slamming the hilt of his knife into her gut and forcing her to the ground. Just as she landed her leg swiped under him and made him trip over as she rolled onto her feet before taking off to one of the crystal walls. Jeff followed her and glared as she jumped, kicking off from the crystal and flipping over and behind him, nailing a punch to his side and making him slide a bit. Jeff swerved but retaliated with a strong kick to her back, sending her forward and hitting her shoulder into the crystal. She still released no sounds of pain but he knew she was now taking damage, his thoughts darkened upon thinking of what the kids were going through. On the other side the demon's wounds healed, its jaw cracking back in place and its eye healing up as the scalpel finally fell out. Edan was quick to understand what was happening and knew he wasn’t going to be stable enough to fight, Nash and Talon could still hold on but he needed to get out. “Time out!”

As he shouted, the demon sat down, licking at its claws as Edan limped over to the others, Nash and Talon following much to their confusion. Edan looked at Aya and ordered. “Heal Talon, Someone tag out for me.”

“Why does this sound like we’re playing volleyball?” Nash muttered as he looked at the broken bat. "Can we even kill this thing?"

“Edan are you sure?” Aya asked with worry. “Your side-”

“Nothing is ruptured.” Edan said. “Talon will still be fighting and you can heal two people out of this whole fight. Cherry or Malik will have to tag in.”

“I’ll go.” Malik replied, getting his sister’s protest.

“What?! But i’m itching to kick that monster into another dimension!” Cherry whined, fixing her dress and leggings. "I'll show him not to fuck with the CP's!"

“That’s why you need to hang back.” Malik reasoned. “We need that strength. I’ll tag in, you’ll tag in for Nash or Talon later.”

She knew he was right and begrudgingly yielded, crossing her arms and pouting as Edan sat with Viper and Aya tended to Talon’s wounds. Nash looked back at the demon, his skin crawled as he saw the eyes watching them intently. Nash was more than just scared, he was petrified, and looking at all the CP’s trapped in their crystals..it was a scary thought of being trapped in one. Malik stepped forward with Talon and patted Nash’s head. “Come on Nash, head in the fight.”

Taking a deep breath, Nash turned to the monster and then watched as Malik ran forward. The demon lunged but Malik was a step ahead and jumped, stepping on the monster’s head and climbing onto its back as it roared and stood up on two legs to get Malik off. The unprotected belly was exposed and Nash took out two small vials from his pocket before throwing one at full strength and it shattered against its stomach, Nitric acid burning through its skin and causing it to land on its four legs. Despite its healing abilities the acid continued to climb and burn and the beast could not heal fast enough, Talon taking the chance to run forward and slam his shoulder into the demon to make it stagger back. Malik slid off and took out his daggers, stabbing one blade into the neck of the demon and the other stabbed into the soft pouch of its mouth under its chin.

Nash cheered as he took the second bottle and threw with precision onto the head of the demon, the acid burning its eyes and it let out a pained shriek as it began moving around, hitting Talon and Malik away by slamming its shoulders into them. Nash was filled with pride at his chemical skills, but frowned as his victory was short-lived and the monster's tail swung at him, slamming him right into the crystals. To Edan it was not that big of a deal, but to a 10 year old that was still growing, he felt something shift in his body and a crimson taste filled his mouth. Nash collapsed, but was gasping for air and Viper was the first to react. “Cherry! Switch!”

Cherry jumped right in as the demon moved to attack Nash again, but was stopped when the clown’s foot came in contact with his head and it twisted. Aya hurried and pulled Nash back to their small corner, her strings touching his back as they glowed and healed him up. Viper had wrapped Edan’s side with his own hoodie, pulling the sleeves together tightly around the wound. The demon screamed at Cherry and Talon took this chance to jump on and wrap his arms around its neck, forcing its head up as Malik ran to his sister. “We need to kill it fast.”

“How should we? I know my chainsaw can’t get through that armor.” Cherry replied as she watched it struggle to throw Talon off.

“The belly is soft.” Malik mumbled. “Although, even then we need a direct hit to the brain. For now we just need to keep it from killing us.”

Cherry smirked and suggested. “Attack plan, shadow?”

He grinned back and nodded. “Shadow.”

The two charged at the demon, it looked to them and tried to swing its tail to hit them, but while Cherry jumped over Malik slid on his knees under it. Cherry had enough bounce to get over onto the other side and stuck her tongue out at the monster, making it roar and swipe at her but she only jumped over again. Golden orange eyes never left her until it was greeted with Malik’s blade cutting into its eyes, it yelped and stomped back before running forward to impale Malik. The teen stood still with a smirk as his sister slammed her foot on the top of the armored head and made it dig its own mandibles into the stone flooring. Talon jumped off and smirked. “With you two on the field, the demon is good as dead..”

Roxie had no problem making dolls, but when the threat was so close she had to put away her sewing supplies. Lorien had been successful in killing off the Specters that were larger and armored, but Roxie had to focus her time on the archers and those with long ranged weapons. Many believed that she was weak or too much of a pacifist to be a CP, but they had no idea of her true potential. Flipping over one of the archers she grabbed the hood and pulled it back to yank the Specter onto the ground before stabbing her golden scissors through the gem on its forehead. As another archer took aim she flicked a silver pair right into the gem and turned to dodge an arrow. Call it miraculous or luck, her fighting style was unique, yanking the scissors from the decaying corpses as she charged to the next one that held a crossbow. She smiled at it before jamming one of the scissors into its mouth and twisted his head to break its neck, throwing her other pair into a wolf Specter's eye and dragging the scissors down the neck of the Specter.

Lorien was not as worried about Roxie, his attacks mainly being that of taking away the sword, axe, or mace before ripping the helmet or head of the Specter off and crushing it with his powerful jaws. Roxie’s dress swayed as she twirled to Lorien’s side, commenting lightly. “Specters are strong, but not as strong as the ones we’ve faced before. Their strength might be being used right now elsewhere.”

The demon nodded and protectively curled around Roxie as one of the Specter’s lunged at her, biting the sword and flinging the Specter high over the trees. Roxie giggled and looked at her scissors. “I’m a little dissatisfied that they don’t bleed..oh well, we’ll just have to hold them off a while longer right?”

With a snuff and a nod, Lorien turned and pounced on one of the knights, Roxie giggling as she looked around. It was odd they had reverted to medieval people and wolves, she was unsure why that would be the case. Her thoughts were interrupted as a pack of wolves jumped out into the clearing with bright yellow eyes. Roxie’s smile faltered a little as one wolf jumped and she barely had time to dodge before another tried to bite her arm. Twirling her scissors in her hands she stabbed one in the head and slashed at another that attempted to bite her, having to be light on her feet. Her parents always told her to be wise and quick, it was the only way she could ever come to terms with who she was and how she would fight. As one wolf bit her leg she was dragged onto the ground and she quickly turned and stabbed the scissors into the side of the wolf’s head before kicking off the body and standing up to stab the next one. Roxie wasn’t sure where this fight was leading, or if they were doing any better in the under realm, but she knew she had to keep fighting with or without the other CP’s with her. The thought hurt but it was the truth, even if all her friends and family were to die, she had to keep living. That was the harsh reality of a CP.

Cherry and Malik were able to continue their quick combos, and even from the sideline it was scary to watch. Viper had no clue how long this would last, but he had to look over Jeff’s side, technically it wasn’t against the rules to look over. Edan moved a hand over Viper’s, a silent command telling him to stay put. Talon was basically on the side now, trying to think of a way that they could finish off this demon. They couldn’t cut the supply of power to it, that would result in killing CP’s, but there didn’t seem to be another way to stun it. Perhaps if it had a crystal somewhere like all of its sub-creations then they could kill it or at least buy some time.

“Talon!”

As if a prayer was answered, a shout came from above and everyone, even the demon, looked up at the voice. Harmony froze from the voice and Jeff smirked as he looked up to see Kishar and Laila above the group. The woman CP hissed. “Impossible..”

Laila seemed to spot Harmony and grinned. “Rule one of a CP, never attack a CP unless you're sure you can win!”

Talon wasn’t sure what she was talking about but his eyes widened at the item in her hands. Laila smiled at him as Kishar dove down and she threw a swallow sword- no, Zalgo’s swallow sword, at him. It landed perfectly vertical in the stone in front of him, his hands wrapping around the handle as she called out. “Kishar and I went scavenging! Now take that thing out!”

Harmony glared and turned to Jeff, only getting the blade of his knife dug into her chest and ripping downwards. A gasp of pain escaped as she tried to whistle to her demon, but Jeff shoved her to the ground and covered her mouth before yelling to the kids. “Take out her demon!”

Talon smirked, spinning the double sided sword as Cherry and Malik sprang back into action. The twins jumped away before Malik ran towards it, sliding under the beast as it swiped at him, Cherry running full speed at her brother as he lifted his feet up and she jumped onto his feet before jumping again to land on the monster. It was quick to turn its head to attack her, but she was faster and threw one of her cherry bombs at the monster, the bomb exploding into a cloud of red to blind it. It couldn’t clear the cloud away before Cherry had landed and Talon ran forward with the sword and stabbed one side into the chest of the demon. It screamed as its body tried to heal around the blade but Talon wasn’t done. He yanked the blade out again before spinning it and jabbing the other side under the jaw of the beast and the end stabbed all the way through its head. Blood poured out from the wound as Talon pushed it back, keeping the blade in even when the demon fell over limply. 

Jeff could see something change in Harmony’s eyes, something that was similar to hunger and pain. She grabbed his wrists tightly, forcing his hand off her mouth as she spoke and blood seeped out of her chest from the knife. “You CP’s..you’ll only destroy yourselves. Or the humans will get you.”

He didn’t say anything, but feeling a sudden drain of his strength he moved to pull away, only to have her grip harder. She grit her teeth as she glared at him, but that expression soon changed to shock as a bullet went flying through her head and she went limp on the ground. Jeff panted as he looked up and saw Viper lowering his gun back into his holster, he didn’t say much and even with the mask on it was hard to hear him anyways. “Idiot, Laila basically said don’t let her touch you.”

Jeff chuckled and stood up, taking the knife from the traitors chest as Viper came over. “Guess it slipped my mind..you think that killed her?”

“That’s what I’m going to check..” Viper said as he knelled down and examined the body. “Aya is healing the others. Your kids got through unscathed.” 

On the surface, Roxie and Lorien were caught off guard as the Specters suddenly started to decay. She put her scissored back in her dress, patting it down as she looked at Lorien. “Well..that was fun.”

Lorien let out a raspy laugh, his wings had been wounded, but Roxie suffered most damage with the leg that was bitten and her arm that had a crossbow arrow sticking out of it. Lorien faded back into his smaller form and laid on Roxie’s fluffy hair to rest, the girl smiled and looked to a portal as Kishar jumped through with Laila. “Ah, you two have also returned.”

“To get you two, hop on!” Laila gleefully commanded, Roxie doing as she was told and carefully climbed onto Kishar while Lorien flew onto the creature's antlers and hung on.

Kishar belled loudly as she jumped through her portal and with her magic the castle began to rebuild itself, the CPs watched in awe as the castle pieced back together with a blue glow. Aya looked up from her healing process and smiled as Kishar and the others landed beside them before the walls could block their direct route. “You’re ok!”

Laila leaped off Kishar with renewed energy and flew up in front of her friends. “And better than ever! I think killing the traitor gave me my complete soul back!”

“Laila that’s wonderful!” Nash called out, smiling at her and laughing as she picked him up before flying around the castle.

Roxie walked over to Edan and Aya, the two looking in shock at her before Edan spoke. “Let me guess, some Specter’s came to say hi?”

She smiled and held up her arm to show them the small arrow stuck in her arm. “You could say that, very rowdy bunch.”

Edan shook his head as he worked to get the arrow out while Aya started healing her leg, chiding Roxie softly. “You’re too care free in a fight..”

“Whatever works~” Roxie smiled and looked up at the twins that did a bro fist before walking closer. “Ah and the legendary twins are still alive.”

“We’ll have to tell you about everything that happened down here. It was nuts!” Cherry laughed, her arms wrapping around her stomach.

“Where’s Viper?” Malik suddenly asked as he looked around, but with the walls formed and the crystals still around them he wasn’t sure where the proxy would’ve gone.

“Oh my god, where’s Jeff?” Laila asked as she landed and set Nash down. “We have to find him and the traitor!”

Viper pulled his bloody hand out of Harmony and held up an orange crystal. “Here we are, this must have been the seed that produced the demon’s inhabitants inside her. Care to do the honors Jeff?”

Jeff smirked and shook his head. “Why don’t you show me how well you can shoot a moving target?”

With a nod, the proxy handed the crystal to Jeff and the CP pulled his arm back before throwing it high into the air. Not more than a couple seconds after it nearly hit the ceiling that Viper pulled his gun out and shot once, shattering the crystal. Jeff whistled low and smirked. “Not bad..”

Viper nodded, spinning the gun on his finger before holstering it, the two looking to the entrance of the main hall as footsteps were heard. The kids ran into the throne room, all with happy and victory smiles on their faces. Laila flew straight to Jeff and hugged him tightly, not long after Malik and Cherry hugged around his sides as Laila cried out. “Uncle Jeff, you did it!”

Edan walked over to his boyfriend, lifting the mask enough to plant a kiss on his lips before putting the mask back into place and Viper’s hands wrapped around his waist. All of them gathered except for Kishar, she watched from the entrance and Jeff’s eyes caught hers. Malik looked up and followed Jeff’s gaze, smiling at Kishar before nodding and mumbling out. “It’s ok..”

Kishar nodded and walked off, getting the sign to leave. She had done her part, and she would visit Malik when she was willing, and he was ok with that. She was a one of a kind CP that was intended to be free. The celebration had become quiet as Roxie hushed them and commented. “Anyone else hear that? Sounds like something is breaking?”

As the body of the traitor fell and began to decay, Jeff spun around when he heard loud cracking and crumbling of stone and crystal. Seeing the capsules of the CP’s begin to come apart and the bodies trapped within the gemstone prisons, loud gasps of pain and gasps for air rang out as some dropped out of their cocoons. However, Jeff seeing the older version of himself was a surprise with this older self having his hair in a ponytail and wearing a white jacket instead of his normal hoodie. The duplicate looked up, exhausted but shocked when seeing his younger self and slowly pulled himself up onto his feet. “The..hell?”

“PAPA!” Two voices screamed out, Cherry and Malik running to their father with tears and hugging Jeff to the ground again.

“Cherry? Malik!?” Jeff’s older self called as he quickly hugged back, laughing loudly. “Oh my fucking god, you’re ok!”

A gasp was heard from Edan and Jeff turned to look at the teen, who had black tears running down his cheeks. Following his gaze, Jeff’s attention turned to another crystal and saw EJ assisting Ben back onto his feet, the two hugging quickly then looking over as Edan ran to them and hugged them. Edan was just a bit taller than Ben, but EJ still towered over the two. EJ smiled and lifted his son up, hugging him close. The reunion of the CP’s and their kids was amazing to watch for Jeff. Seeing everyone crying, laughing, and smiling with joy. Free from imprisonment and able to see each other. Nina, Bloody Painter, Zero, Grinny, all these different CP’s that were being released back into the world.

“Papa! I made Nitric acid!” Nash said proudly as he ran towards Toby, the screwy CP picked him up and swung him around. 

“That’s my little monster!” Toby laughed, his mask off and held his son close as Nash began to cry from seeing his father. His tears were wiped away by Toby, the CP looking over to Clockwork, who stumbled out of her decaying crystal. “Natalie!”

“T-toby?” She called back weakly and was about to stand but her knees gave out, Toby ran to her as he knelled before her with their son and tears flooded her eyes. He handed Nash off to Clockwork and the boy hugged his mother, both their emerald eyes shining at the sight of a family that was lost many years ago and barely begun to make memories. “Nash, fuck you’re alive..oh god you’re ok..”

Jeff couldn’t help but smile as he watched what was taking place, all the kids hugging and crying as their parents were released and came to realization of their freedom. He barely noticed two figures walking up to him until they were right in front of him. He looked up to see Zalgo and Slender.

“Well shit..I told you someone would come to get us. But I wasn’t expecting Jeff.” Zalgo chuckled, although he looked weak, his normal bright red eyes dim and tired.

Slender nodded and put a hand on Jeff’s head. “Jeff, that diamond on your knife..”

“It was given to me by you and Mara..” Jeff replied, looking at the hilt where the diamond was placed. “I promised to catch the traitor but..I had no choice but to kill them.”

“I’m sure my past self will be understanding.” Slender let out a warm chuckle. “Besides..you freed us, and going back in time you’ll be able to prevent this destruction.”

“The kids missed you guys.” Jeff said as he looked to the CP’s. “A lot..they grew up quite a bit too.”

Talon had rejoiced with Lulu and his father, the boy showing the sword off to them. Candypop had lifted Roxie onto his shoulders with a cackle while she leaned down to kiss the top of Jason’s head, Jason then handed her a stuffed bunny that she embraced with a giggle. Sadie was holding Aya close as Kagekao held both in his hug, nuzzling his masked face into Sadie’s shoulder. Aya was rambling on and on to her family about her magic and how shocked she was by the magic strings she decided to call “soul strings”. Laila was doing what she wanted to do since she parted with her mother, Mara and Laila flew around the ceiling of the castle, the two coming to a stop on the ground to hug Lou. The masked man hugging his daughter tightly as he promised to never leave her again, the two winged CP’s hugging Lou in return. Even the proxies were embracing their comrades, commenting on how this wasn’t the worst mission or joking about how they could’ve planned this differently. Hoodie was hugging Viper close while Masky stood next to them and pet Viper’s head lovingly, all their hoods and masks pulled off to show their faces and in their eyes there was a mix of happiness and love. Jeff’s eyes fell back onto his older self, and a warm feeling flooded his chest to the point that it was near painful. LJ was holding Cherry close to his side as his other arm wrapped around Jeff’s waist, kissing his cheek and rubbing his daughter’s back. Malik was in Jeff’s embrace while the pale killer pecked the clown's lips in return. 

Lorien was also getting his share of attention as Laila was rubbing his back and both her parents pet Lorien’s head, praising him for watching the kids. Laila began to detail about Kishar and how things had gone while they were imprisoned. Jeff didn’t want to stop watching, but Slender’s hand squeezed his shoulder and he looked up. Slender lightly tapped the diamond and said. “It’s time for you to go..”

Jeff sighed and nodded, moving closer to the throne as he looked at the knife and thought to himself of the words he needed to say, before muttering softly. Each word makes the diamond glow just a bit brighter. “As time shifts..be my guide, make my travel swift..back to my pride.”

As his vision was blinded, the light cleared and he looked ahead of him, finding the mansion and all its glory. His hand was still clenched around the knife hilt, the diamond returning to its normal splendor. The forest and mansion was covered in snow as the cold air made him shake, in the future it was so much warmer. His eyes caught on a monochrome character on the porch deck, his mouth felt dry and numb but he was able to mutter out. “Laughing..Jack?”

LJ was leaning over but sat up quick at the voice calling his name, seeing Jeff suddenly there made him smile and run over. “Jeff you’re back!”

Jeff said nothing as his boyfriend hugged him, letting the clown shower him with kisses and words detailing how boring it’s been without him and how he’s missed him. The grip on his knife loosened, the blade falling down and landing into the dirt. The sudden drop made LJ stop talking and pull away enough to look at Jeff’s face but was stunned to see the killer crying, tears making their way down his cheeks and mixing with blood from his cut cheeks.

“Jeffy? Are you ok-” LJ barely got his words out as Jeff suddenly hiccuped and sobbed loudly. “Oh fuck, Jeff what’s wrong?”

“N-nothing-just..” Jeff sniffed, wiping his tears away and finally looking up at his boyfriend. “I’m glad to be home..”

LJ gave a soft smile and held Jeff close, holding him so gently that it actually made Jeff cry louder from the gesture, but hugged back in yearning for the attention. While being held he did eventually calm down, his sobs turning into soft hiccups and gasps before he was able to talk to LJ. “How long was I gone?”

“Two days.” LJ smiled, sticking his tongue out at Jeff.

A chuckle escaped Jeff as he playfully hit LJ’s arm. “You fucking jerk you made it sound like I was gone for months.”

“It felt like months!” LJ laughed, only laughing harder as Jeff tried to hit him in the face. “It’s good to have you back Jeffy..”

“Good to be back.” Jeff replied, nuzzling into LJ’s shoulder. Such affection was rare from the killer so LJ didn’t question it. “You wouldn’t believe everything I had seen and gone through..I felt like I was in a bad sitcom.”

LJ laughed and held him, nuzzling his chin on the black locks and mumbling out. “I can’t wait to hear about it..” They enjoyed the peace between them but their moment was cut as another voice called.

“Holy shit! Jeff is that you?” His brother Liu called, walking out from the house to the couple. “Shit Jeff what happened? wait-Were you crying?”

“It’s nothing Liu.” Jeff answered, wiping his eyes for any remnants of tears, clearing his throat as well of any tightness.

Liu was taken aback by Jeff using his name, most of the time he would tell him to fuck off for even showing a shred of worry. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah just-” Jeff froze, remembering the reason all this happened in the first place. “Where’s Slender and Mara?!”

Both LJ and Liu were stunned by the shout, but Liu was the first to reply. “Inside, Mara is sitting with the girls and Slender should be making dinner.”

Jeff ran inside, dodging and weaving through the CP’s as he passed, running to the kitchen. “Slender!”

Many CP’s tried to stop him to ask what was going on, and others dodged to avoid being run over, a practice most had to learn when arriving at the mansion. Jeff slid into the kitchen where Slender and Mara were talking, drinking from tea cups before looking over in surprise. Mara was the first to speak and stepped forward. “Jeff! You’re back sooner than we thought, how was-”

“We need to find Harmony!” Jeff ordered as he looked at both her and Slender. “She’s the one that will be attacking us! I’m not sure where she is or where she came from but I know what she looks like and what she can do.”

Slender set his tea cup down and placed a hand on Jeff’s shoulder. “Then let's head to the Council right now. Mara, I want you to take the diamond back to Zalgo.”

Mara nodded, her expression becoming serious as she ran out of the kitchen to find the knife Jeff dropped. For once, after many days in the future and only 30 minutes back in his own time, Jeff felt relief. Being home, and hopefully catching the woman responsible for the future he saw.


	20. One End, A New Beginning

As the leaves began to fall that year, the mansion had fallen back into peace. Jeff felt so irritated after the first two months of coming back, having to tell everyone over and over again about his adventure into the future and of course the worry of finding Harmony. But as spring came around the Council had found her with the help of Zalgo, and she was taken care of, although it was never specified how she was found or handled. Jeff was just happy to be home, and Mara had to work with him for a couple weeks to try and cope with everything he had seen and try to understand that was not their future. Many CP’s were shocked by the story Jeff had told, those especially that had kids. Ben was in denial for the longest at the thought of having a kid, but couples like Kagekao and Sadie were excited. After the capture of Harmony, the many months to September have been all about Mara’s future baby. It was hard for Mara to do her work for both Zalgo and Slender as she hit 5 months, Dr.Smiley gave her strict no flying once she had hit 4 months, but she was expecting her baby any day. 

Sometimes the CP’s would ask Jeff about his story for certain details, things about the kids, how old they were. However, after he told everyone the first couple times he died the details down, he didn’t want the chance to ruin the future for the kids they could have. About a month after Jeff returned he spoke to Dr.Smiley and Slender about the possibility of the CP’s having kids, especially since the majority were males in a relationship. Neither of them had answers, only informing Jeff that it might have been a similar set up as Mara’s pregnancy, but that still left no explanation and which meant they probably wouldn’t find out until a year later. After a night of killing, Jeff started walking home with the need to shower from all the blood accumulated on his body. It felt great to be home, even though his journey was 9 months ago, he couldn’t help but feel relieved everyday he woke up in his room and seeing his family. It wasn’t traumatic, nothing PTSD related, but since he had no real detail of what happened to Harmony he was still on edge. Despite Mara’s constant assurance that Harmony wouldn’t hurt their family, he couldn’t help but feel on edge. Until this day.

Walking inside the mansion, Jeff was greeted by Smile dog as his friend sniffed at him and barked. Jeff smiled and patted his head. “Hey Smile, what’s going on?”

Smile barked again before walking to the living room, looking back to make sure Jeff was following. As the killer followed he commented to his dog. “Boy, I need to shower, make it quick.”

“Aw, I’m hurt Jeff.”

Jeff looked up from his dog to see Dr.Smiley on the couch and nodded to him. “Hey Smiley. Any reason you made my dog bring me here?”

“Just to deliver some news to you.” Dr.Smiley replied, even with his mask on the CP could tell the insane doctor was smiling. “Come sit.”

Not saying another word, Jeff sat on a different couch and faced the doctor, Smile dog jumping onto the couch to have Jeff pet him. “What’s going on?”

“Harmony has been..well to put in short, destroyed.” Dr.Smiley commented. “Her physical being at least, we managed to keep the demon alive and imprisoned in Zalgo’s realm.”

“Should we really trust Zalgo with this?” Jeff inquired as he raised a brow. “Don’t forget that Woo-doo escaped from there. And by what I can remember, Aya told me that the demon possessed powerful magic.”

“Things have changed in Zalgo’s realm.” Dr.Smiley replied. “Ever since you came back and Slender relayed the story to Zalgo, the demon lord has taken extra time to acquire some help from the Councils and other CP’s to seal the demons. Also they’re going to be guarded now and the dems have been moved to a more secure location.”

“Nice to hear.” Jeff nodded before getting up. “Thanks for telling me.”

The doctor chuckled and stood up. “Welcome, I need to return to the lab. Mara will be mad if I don't get her the chips she asked for."

“Why is Mara down there?” Jeff asked with surprise. “I thought you said that she should be going around and trying to soak up some sun and moonlight.”

“Jeff I said that months ago, a week ago I had to change that to make her stay inside. She’s dangerously close to having her baby and I don’t want her to be in the forest when it happens.” Dr.Smiley reasoned.

Jeff shrugged. “Fair enough, see you later.”

Walking upstairs he bumped into Ben and the blonde grumbled as he touched his cheek to feel some blood had smeared on him. “Damn it Jeff!”

“Hey don’t fucking blame me! I was going to my room!” Jeff growled at him, but then narrowed his eyes when he noticed the book in Ben’s hands. “That’s a rare sight.”

Ben jolted and hid the book behind his back. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Jeff smirked and quickly snatched the book from behind Ben and looked at it. “Well normally you’re holding a DS, phone, or nintendo switch. Not a book on...parenting? The fuck are you pregnant!?”

“Shh! No!” Ben blushed as he grabbed the book. “Fuck no, that's not physically possible..I just..since Mara is having her kid she said she’d be honored if I could be like..the kids playmate. You know, playing video games with the kid when they grow up.”

“Then why read a book on it?” Jeff asked with his head tilted.

“Well..actually..” Ben grumbled. “Since it sounds like I’m going to be a parent someday..”

“Jesus Ben, you hitting stage 5 of grief?” Jeff scoffed. “Just because you and EJ will have a kid it won’t be for a while. There’s no need to read up on it now..”

“You said my kid was 17! So after Mara’s kid my kid is coming along two years later!” Ben snapped.

“Ben that was just the future I saw, for all I fucking know the kids will now be born later because of my mission.” Jeff shrugged. “Now burn the book and go back to being yourself, it’s creepy as shit seeing you like this.”

Ben said nothing as he watched Jeff walk past and then glared at the book before smirking. “I think I’ll give Slender a heart attack before I destroy it. Or sell it for gaming cash.”

Jeff made it his room and saw LJ laying on his bed with a pile of candy and was gutting a squirrel. “Oh, hey Jeffy!”

“Jack! You’re getting blood all over my bed! Why are you gutting in here anyways?” Jeff growled as he grabbed some clean clothes out of his dresser. 

“Ah, well I wanted to go to my room but it still smells like chemicals since Slender cleaned it, then Mara is in the lab, and anywhere else Slender would catch me. Plus I’ll clean it up!” LJ smirked.

“If you don’t I’ll gut you.” Jeff threatened. “And get your sugary candy off my bed!”

The killer turned to leave but was stopped as two hands rested on the door and trapped him between the door and the boyfriend of his. “You’re no fun papa Jeff~”

“Excuse me?” Jeff glared, looking at his boyfriend.

“Papa Jeff, isn’t that what you said Cherry and Malik called you?” LJ clarified before laughing. “I kind of figured you’d be the one to-”

Jeff slammed his fist into the clown's gut before he could finish and slipped out into the hall and made his way to the nearest bathroom, shouting back. “LJ! Clean my fucking bed!”

Annoying, yes, LJ has been joking around about what the kids called him. It was a serious regret to add in the story, but Jeff’s cheeks flushed at the playful teasing. He did miss those awesome kids, and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having them himself. If that’s how it worked..Mara even sounded surprised the moment he suggested it to her.

~Flash Back: March~

“Jeff! Could you tell us the story?” Chessmaster asked as he stood next to Hobo Heart.

“Wait again?” Jeff scowled. “I’ve been repeating that same story for weeks!”

“Yeah but Hobo Heart wasn’t here until the first week of Spring.” Chessmaster replied and smiled. “Besides, why can’t you tell it again?”

“Because I want to talk about something other than the damn future! Look just ask someone else.” Jeff grumbled as he left the mansion to head to the town.

“The others pestering you again?” Mara called out, Jeff looking up to see her walking towards the mansion, and sighing.

“Yeah, I just need to get away for a bit.” Jeff replied, watching as Mara walked with him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“I know it’s all very annoying right now but soon they’ll stop bugging you about it.” Mara said softly as she took her hand off.

“It’s not just the story, LJ has been non-stop teasing-”

“He’s your boyfriend, it's his job.” Mara brushed off casually.

“Some CP’s have been acting quiet or distant.” 

“I probably would too if I learned I could have a baby if I was male.” Mara giggled in understanding. 

“And now I’m thinking about having the kids.”

“You’re what?” Mara asked in shock. “J-jeff it was a struggle fest for me to get a baby, and the Council has no clue how there were even kids produced in the future by males. Why do you want a kid?”

“Because the kids..all of them were awesome!” Jeff explained. “And the twins, LJ and my kids, well I really want to teach them killing and everything..speaking of which, how is your kid?”

Mara smiled and moved a hand over her stomach, she had to switch to larger shirts to prepare for her baby bump. “She’s doing well, she’s pretty active right now, do you want to feel?”

Jeff felt a little odd by the offer, maybe because the only kids he has ever been around were no younger than ten. But he cautiously moved his hand to her stomach and flinched away for a second before she rolled her eyes and forced his hand on her stomach. “For goodness sakes Jeff, you’ve fought demons and crazy CP’s, I’m not going to snap your wrist for touching my stomach.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about, it's Lou and your baby.” Jeff admitted, but blinked as he felt something move under his hand. “Wow..”

Mara giggled and moved his hand off. “Alright, go kill and have fun, I’ll see if I can talk to everyone about not bugging you...if I hear anything about the possibility of males having kids I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks Mara.” Jeff smiled with a nod as he broke out in a sprint to the city.

~Present time~

Jeff sighed and rolled his shoulders back as he started walking back to his room before someone ran into him, making him grunt and look at Toby. “Toby what the hell-”

“Sorry Jeff! I’m late for a mission!” Toby said quickly before pushing Jeff aside and running downstairs. “Masky! Have you seen my matches!?”

Jeff brushed himself off and huffed, ever since he came back the proxies have been non stop running around. More than usual, Slender wanted to find the legendary CP that Jeff spoke of, but Jeff had a feeling he wouldn’t find Kishar. However, that didn’t stop Slender from sending the proxies out every two weeks to try and find her. Although Mara had Jeff’s back and informed Slender that if Kishar didn’t reveal herself until meeting Malik, then it would be several years before seeing the mythical creature.

Getting back to his room he was glad to see LJ setting out a towel on the floor and continuing his gutting, the candy now all in a bucket, and the bloody sheets bundled up in the corner of the room. LJ looked up and playfully commented. “Is this better, your majesty?”

“Eh, you could’ve gotten new sheets.” Jeff replied before walking over and flopping down onto his bed.

LJ stopped his gutting, wiping his fingers clean on a corner of the towel before moving in front of Jeff. The clown stayed on his knees, off the bed as he stared at Jeff and smirked. “Tired already?”

“Don’t patronize me..” Jeff grumbled as he lifted his head, his eyes revealing exhaustion and LJ chuckled softly.

“What’s wrong? It’s only 2am, you barely take time to nap.” 

Jeff shrugged, flipping over onto his back, his view of LJ now upside down. “Not sure..feel tired for whatever reason.”

“You haven’t gone on another adventure have you?” LJ jokes, only getting a grunt from Jeff. 

“Over my dead body..” Jeff sighed. “I will not ever go into another universe again. Someone else can pick up the slack.”

“Like who? Mara?” LJ smirked as he messed with a lock of Jeff’s hair. “Come on, by what you’ve told us you’ve had fun on these adventures.”

“It’s been..interesting, but I don’t want to see anymore.” Jeff answered honestly, taking the clown by surprise. “I hate seeing how things are, were, or could be, it’s painful to watch.”

LJ slowly got up onto the bed, Jeff moving onto his side as his boyfriend curled up behind him. The monochrome killer smiled as he wrapped a long arm around Jeff and mumbled. “Well, you’re brave for going through all that. And you saved us from two homicidal maniacs.”

Jeff scoffed but smiled and moved a hand over LJ’s arm. “Yeah. I’m going to sleep for a bit, you can go back to your gutting if you want.”

“Nope~ I think I’ll just hold you for a bit while you’re docile~” LJ jokes as he pet the top of Jeff’s head, grunting as the pale killer elbowed him in the gut.

“Just sleep.” Jeff huffed and his body relaxed to his hold.

When Jeff was awoken, it was frantic shaking of his shoulder and his eyes looked up to see his brother. He growled, noticing the sun was up and his clock read 10am, sitting up. “Liu..”

“I know it’s early, but I need you downstairs!” Liu whispered but the urgency in his voice left no room for arguing as the green eyed boy moved to the door.

Rolling his eyes, Jeff squirmed out of LJ’s grasp before sluggishly following his brother. When he got out into the hall the brunette was already running downstairs and Jeff let out a growl. It wasn’t until Jeff had managed to get to the downstairs that he heard a faint screaming, his brother and Heartful Lou standing outside of the basement. It took a few seconds but it then clicked, hissing out to the two guarding the door. “Fuck is Mara having her baby?”

“Yeah, we just figured since you’re going to be the kids godfather that you should be here.” Liu commented. “Lou sent me to get you.”

“Wait why are you up this late?” Jeff asked, glaring at his brother. “Also, you wake me up again and I will gut you.”

Liu ignored the threat and explained. “I woke up because I heard one of Mara’s screams before running down and seeing Lou pacing out here.”

Lou wasn’t pacing now but he was tapping his foot, his arms crossed in an attempt to not fiddle more than he already was. “How long do you think this will be..?” 

“Lou, she's bound to be done soon.” Liu replied to comfort the new father.

“How long has she been in labor for?” Jeff asked, pointing to the door.

“seven hours..” Lou grumbled, his feet beginning to pull him back into a pace. “I know it could take a while but damn it..why couldn’t I be with her? Isn’t that common for human couples?”

“She’s not human.” Liu sighed, obviously tired from whenever he was awoken. “Dr.Smiley explained that if there were any complications he didn’t need people yelling in his ear or breathing down his neck.”

“Wait, it’s only Dr.Smiley?” Jeff questioned, his body going on alert when the screams had faded.

“He said he didn’t want to bring EJ into this.” Lou shrugged, soon turning to the door when he noticed the screams had stopped.

The three stood, holding their breaths and listening for anyone or anything. A few minutes passed before they tensed up hearing footsteps on the other side of the door. As the door opened, a tired and yet happy looking crazed doctor looked out and moved aside. “She’s ready~”

Lou said nothing and dashed down the stairs, Liu and Jeff hesitating as the green eyed brother asked. “Are you sure it’s ok to visit her? She must be exhausted.”

“I suggested it, but she insisted she has enough strength to at least name her baby.” Dr.Smiley chuckled softly. 

Jeff nodded and walked down the stairs, Liu and the CP doctor stayed upstairs to talk, but downstairs it reeked of medical equipment and blood. The pale killer smiled as he saw Lou hugging Mara gently, the female CP covered with a white sheet and her arms holding a bundle of red blankets. Lou and Mara were speaking softly, Jeff staying a few feet away for their privacy, but a sudden call for Jeff made him still as Mara smiled at him.

“Jeff come on over, maybe you can help us settle on a name.”

Jeff complied and walked closer, looking at the bundle in her arms and feeling an ache in his chest. Mara smiled at her baby, Lou next to her with his mask off and letting his daughter hold his finger. Although the baby was distracted by Lorien constantly flying around and attempting to grab the small demon. The familiar purple eyes that were slightly darker than her mother’s made Jeff chuckle. “She looks like her mom..what names do you have?”

“Well, we were thinking..Angel, or Jay, or Laila..” Mara shrugged a bit, moving a bit to get more comfortable with the baby in her arms.

“I like Laila.” Lou said, smiling and leaning down to kiss Mara’s head. “Means, night, if I remember correctly.”

Jeff nodded. “Laila is a good name.” 

Lorien flew in front of Mara’s face and nodded, squeaking out. “Laila!”

Mara giggled. “Alright. Laila it is then. My precious angel..”

Jeff watched in a comfortable silence before turning and heading back upstairs to sleep, as he walked to the stairs he bumped into Hoodie, who was holding his phone and looked up at Jeff. “Ah, excuse me.”

“Surveillance room?” Jeff suggested, knowing that he must have been swapping shifts with someone.

“Yeah, just trying to pick out a playlist.” Hoodie sighed. “When it’s late I need something pretty strong to keep me up like metal.”

“I didn’t know you liked metal.” Jeff said curiously, glancing at the phone. 

“Yeah, from time to time.” Hoodie shrugged, looking through the different songs.

“Wait, go back.” Jeff suddenly said, moving his finger to the screen. “Who’s Dustie Warning?”

“Oh, another metal or screamo singer, he’s really good.” Hoodie answered. "Masky doesn't care for it, but he also doesn't have most morning shifts."

Jeff smirked and nodded. “Sweet..I’ll take a listen sometime.”

Hoodie, very confused by Jeff’s curious demeanor, but said nothing before turning and walking to the camera room. Jeff continued to trek to his room and chuckled. “Dustie..”

As he arrived at his room, LJ was still fast asleep, so the killer crawled into bed alongside the clown. Not meaning to, the larger of the two stirred and let out a yawn and gave a tired smile at Jeff. “hey Jeffy..happy you’re a godfather now?”

“Yeah..she’s a cute kid.” Jeff said, nuzzling to LJ. “How did you know I went to see Mara?”

“Hm?” LJ hummed, but closed his eyes again to sleep. “Oh just..felt something odd, I don’t know some CP superstition powers..”

Jeff decided now wasn’t the time to talk to his half conscious boyfriend and pecked his cheek. “Dummy, go to sleep.”

With no more words, the two quickly fell back asleep. Dreams of Jeff’s adventure into the future went through Jeff’s mind, even making his heart ache in his sleep. His bonding time with the kids, helping them unlock their abilities, that was the greatest part of that adventure. It was sad to see it all vanish so quickly when his alarm woke him up, letting out a frustrated groan as he slammed his hand down on the button. LJ was already gone, signalling he was either killing or somewhere in the mansion. The smell of food rose Jeff from his bed and the tired killer left his room to see out the delicious smell, but stopped at the bottom of the steps when he saw a group of CP’s crowded in the living space.

“Aw! Mara she’s so adorable!” Nina cooes as she bounced in her place.

“Thanks Nina.” Mara giggled, already having that compliment given several times to her daughter. 

“I’m surprised you’re even awake Mara.” EJ pointed out. “I would’ve expected you to be spending the day in the lab.”

“And miss out on the chance of showing everyone Laila? No way.” Mara replied and nuzzled Lou’s shoulder. “Besides, Lou here has to learn the new routine for Laila.”

“What are you guys doing for a bedroom?” Bloodypainter asked as he looked up from his sketchbook.

“For now she’ll just be in our room. It’s easier to watch her that way.” Lou answered. “We’re not sure what to do when she needs her own room but Slender suggested having a separate floor for the kids or making a smaller house next to the mansion.”

Several CP’s chatted together from Lou’s response, Jeff shrugging it off to go eat. Might as well get his food before the mad rush. Thoughts of dream slithered back to him and he quickly ate his food before leaving the mansion to take a walk. The leaves were now dark purples and browns, occasional golds, and the pines of the forest bare. Jeff lifted his hood up to keep any leaves from falling on his head as he looked around the forest, soaking in the tranquil atmosphere of the night. He probably was a good 15 minutes away from the mansion before stopping, something tugging at the back of his mind to look around.

He followed his own command and looked around himself, smirking when he saw a familiar hybrid. “Hey Kishar, we’re not expecting you for another few years.”

Kishar stepped closer, her looks had no difference from the future, and then the creature’s fire jumped out of the lantern and danced around the leaves of the forest. The blue fire made a ring around the two, and before Jeff could ask the world around them disappeared and a crystal world took its place from the forest. Jeff spun around to take in his surroundings before looking to Kishar with confusion, then the hybrid’s skull opened to speak. “I decided to find you CP’s sooner..but don’t be expecting me to stay.”

“I wasn’t thinking you would.” Jeff replied honestly, a little surprised by the soft voice from the powerful being. “So..you’re just here to check on us?”

“More specifically you.” Kishar admitted with a low hum, walking closer. “How do you feel?”

“Ah well..I mean fine.” Jeff rubbed the back of his head. “I mean, I kind of miss the kids. But otherwise I’m just trying to get things back to normal.”

“We both know that won’t happen.” Kishar reasoned. “Unless you erase your memories.”

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t want to forget this.” Jeff elaborated. “I just..I think I’m anxious for it to happen now.”

“You know it is bound to happen, you must be patient.” Kishar said and lightly nudged Jeff’s cheek with her cold skeletal nose.

Jeff grunted and promptly pushed her nose off him. “I know..what are you going to do while you’re here?”

“Now that I’ve spoken to you, I will explore, then retire to a warmer country when winter comes.” Kishar answered. “I know your Council is looking for me.”

“They’re just on edge, just continue laying low.” Jeff offered with a shrug. 

“I understand their worry, another powerful being can be a threat if they are not familiar with it.” Kishar nodded. “I will see you in a few years.”

“See you Kishar.” Jeff nodded, and his body felt like it was ripped from the odd and yet beautiful dimension.

Someone was shaking him, quiet roughly too as Jeff’s head was moving with the constant shaking. “Hey! Hey! Stop that!”

“Jeff! Oh dear Zalgo I thought you were dead!” 

Jeff vision focused on Isaac, the under realm CP that he had grown to know since Mara started working with Zalgo. The guy had a strange admiration for Jeff, but not a crazy stalker like Nina. “Isaac? What are you doing here?”

“That’s all you have to say?!” Isaac nearly shouted. “You were passed out on the grass!”

“Isaac I’m fine.” Jeff scoffed, brushing himself off. “Now what are you doing out here?”

“Oh! I’m here to deliver a gift from Zalgo to Mara. It’s for her baby!” Isaac smiled his beak mask tilting down as he retrieved a necklace. “It’s a hummingbird skull! Or, a metal replica. Zalgo said that hummingbirds normally represent something like good luck and joy, and Mara mentioned to Zalgo how she wanted to get her daughter something of that representation. Although I still think Mara would want to give her daughter something shiny like a ruby..”

“Laila will love it.” Jeff confirmed for him. “Knowing Mara, she would rather give her daughter something simple rather than shiny.”

“Really?” Isaac questioned but then nodded. “Alright! See you later Jeff!”

The CP dashed to the mansion, Jeff watching and smirking to himself as he mumbled. “So that’s it..Mara gave Laila that necklace for luck and love..damn woman’s got a reason for everything.”

For now Jeff would wait, as Kishar pointed out, his time will come if he wants to have Cherry and Malik become real in his time. He would just have to keep doing as he does, and hopefully the future won’t become a complete city nightmare like he saw. Maybe now that the CP’s were around there could be a bit more control, but control only can go so far from the shadows.

~Epilogue~

“Papa!” Two voices shouted out gleefully, Jeff grunting as he felt a body land on his.

“Papa! Daddy! Wake up!” His daughter Cherry giggled as she crawled on LJ’s sleeping figure.

“Kids..mercy, it’s 7pm..” Jeff growled, but that didn’t stop Malik climbing over Jeff before sliding down to look at Jeff with a grin.

“Papa! You promised to take us hunting today! Come on!” Malik called out, starting to pull the sheets off Jeff.

A squeal behind him caught Jeff’s attention as LJ held their 6 year old daughter and the twin brother ran over to rescue his sister. LJ laughed as he grabbed them both and growled at them. “You two shouldn’t have awoken the sleeping demon!”

They yelled and screamed in laughter as they squirmed, Jeff rolling his eyes. “Jack let them go, you two get downstairs, maybe Mara has made french toast this morning."

“French Toast!” The two gasped before cheering and quickly running out of the room, the two parents sighing before looking at each other with a smirk.

The couple stood and quickly got ready for their day before walking downstairs, stopping at the steps when Laila and Talon ran past to catch up with the twins. Laila was 9 currently, and Talon was only 5, but they were already a team and were hardly ever apart. Edan and Dustie were on the couch, enjoying some tv shows while breakfast was being made, the two only one year apart with Dustie being 8 and Edan being 7. 

“Dustie! We have training today so after breakfast grab your knife!” Masky shouted out from the dining room.

“Got it dad!” Dustie shouted back and huffed. “I hate early training.”

“But you like early tv shows.” Edan teased, but quickly returned his attention to the TV.

Jeff smiled at the two before making his way to the kitchen, Roxie and Aya with their parents as Toby helped Clockwork to her seat. Everything was coming to pass as he hoped, even more than what he was expecting. Sure, he now saw the pain of parenthood, but he also saw the possibilities ahead of them. Mara had made sure to frequently inform the three realms of the CP’s that were imprisoned, having to have traveled the world to ensure there were no longer threats on their way to their family. It was a tedious task, and who knows for certain how long the family would last and what could come next, but the CP’s were confident and were far wiser than before. There was a saying that legends never die, no matter what came. Whatever may come to threaten them next, a demon, CP, humans, or maybe just the end of the world..they’d be ready to fight back.


End file.
